A Night To Remember
by RozaBelikova-x
Summary: Rose and Dimitri have been best friends since they were kids. When Rose is fifteen, her mom wants to move back to Montana with her. Before she leaves, Dimitri confesses his love for her. She promises him to come back so they can be together. But when she finally returns, she finds out that Dimitri is engaged. What will Dimitri do when Rose is back? First fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.**

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**CHAPTER 1**

**RPOV**

It was my last night in Baia. Tomorrow, around this time, I would be on my way to America. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay here, but I had no choice. My mom wanted to move back to America so I couldn't do anything else than go with her.

I was born in America, but at the age of five I moved here. It was a new, fresh start and I loved it here. I loved all the friends I made here and now I had to leave them all behind because my mom had decided she wanted to go back to Montana. I'd refused at first, screaming and throwing things around the house, but my mom never backed down. She was just as stubborn as me. I didn't understand why she couldn't wait another three years until I was eighteen. Then I didn't have to go with her. But three years was too long for her to wait – and yeah, I had to agree it was kind of long. Especially when you had to go somewhere against your will. Of course, she didn't care about what I wanted or what was best for me.

So I had nothing else to do but pack my stuff and say goodbye to my friends. I still had to say goodbye to one person, though, and I dreaded to do it. He was my best friend and I had no idea how I would survive without him. We'd been best friends since I moved here. We'd been inseparable and now I had to leave him behind.

I heard a knock on my window. I quickly shot up from the bed and pulled the curtains away. There he was. My best friend. He was two years older than me and had shoulder length brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail. His deep brown eyes looked at me friendly, like they always did. He smiled and motioned for me to open the window. I opened it and stepped back to let him in. I looked out of the window and saw that he'd put the old wooden ladder against the wall to climb to my window.

"You know how unstable that ladder is. You could've broken your neck," I chastised him as I closed the window.

Dimitri shrugged and gave me another smile. "Anything for you, Roza."

I rolled my eyes at him and sat back down on my bed. He sat down beside me.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

I shook my head. "No. I don't want to go, Dimitri. I want to stay here." My eyes were glistening with tears again. The last couple of weeks I'd cried so much. It was unbelievable. I _never _cried. Until my mom told me we were moving. I gripped Dimitri's shirt. "I don't want to go back to America! I love it here. I want to stay. She can go alone. I'm not going."

"Shh, it's going to be okay," Dimitri said soothingly. He pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arms around me.

"No, it's not going to be okay," I argued, burying my head in his chest.

"You'll be fine," Dimitri whispered as he stroked my hair gently. "You're going to make new friends, go to a new school… You won't even have time to miss this place…or me."

I gave him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? I'll never forget this place. I'll never forget you."

He gave me a small, sad smile. "I hope so."

"Once I'm eighteen, I'll come back," I said firmly. "I'm not staying there with my mom!"

Dimitri cupped my cheek. "You say that now, but…"

"No!" I interrupted. "I'll come back. You know I would come back for you." I hugged him again and inhaled the scent of his aftershave. Somehow, it was soothing. We were silent for a few minutes. I listened to the beating of his heart and closed my eyes. After tomorrow I would never get the chance to hold him again – at least for three years. He wouldn't be here anymore to comfort me, to tell me everything was going to be okay. I would be all alone in a city I didn't know, with people I didn't know. I felt like crying just thinking about it, but I didn't want to ruin this moment.

Instead, I pulled back slightly and asked, "Have you thought about my offer?"

Suddenly, he stiffened. "Roza, I don't know if that's a good idea…" he said carefully.

Tears filled my eyes again and this time it was not because I was leaving. I moved away from him. "But it's going to take ages before I'll meet someone there! If ever! Who knows how the guys are there. I want it to be with someone I love. With someone I trust."

His face was filled with doubt…and something else. Lust? Longing? I couldn't put my finger on it. "Roza, are you sure you want this? I don't want to hurt you."

"Yes," I said without hesitation. I'd been thinking about this a lot. I knew it was a lot to ask, but I hoped he would agree. Before I left, I wanted one last perfect moment with him. I was nervous, yeah, but I knew he wouldn't hurt me. I trusted him and I loved him. I wouldn't want my first time with anyone else. I knew how other guys were. They thought I was hot and they would only want me for sex, but Dimitri wasn't like that. He loved me for who I was, not for my good looks. I wanted my first time to be special and not with some guy who'd break my heart after he got what he wanted. "Unless you have a girlfriend I don't know of?"

That earned me a smile. "No, I don't have a girlfriend. If I had, you would know."

We had no secrets for each other. We told each other everything. He'd even told me about his first time. It had happened last year with Abby, some girl from his history class, and according to Dimitri it hadn't been that great.

I smiled. "Good. Then there's no problem, is there?"

He sighed, giving in. "Fine. I'll do it."

"You sound like you absolutely hate the idea of having sex with me," I said jokingly.

"Shut up before I change my mind," he said grinning. He moved closer to me and put his hands on my hips. His smile faded and he grew serious again. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, comrade," I repeated impatiently. "I'm sure."

I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and our lips met. It didn't feel weird or awkward at all to kiss him. I'd kissed him before. Not because I was in love with him – I mean, I couldn't be, he was my best friend. But before I'd started dating my first boyfriend, I wanted to practice first because I didn't want to screw it up so I'd practiced with Dimitri. He already had experience and he was my best friend so it didn't matter if I screwed it up with him. To my surprise, my first kiss had been really great. But that was probably _because_ it had been with Dimitri. He always made me feel so special. Something in my belly fluttered as I thought back to that day.

Suddenly, I pulled away. "You brought a condom, right?" I asked.

Dimitri rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course. I'm not stupid."

I grinned. "So you already knew you were going to agree with me."

He grinned, too, and pushed me gently down on the bed, hovering over me. "You know I can't say no to you, Roza." He leaned in to kiss me again, but then looked up to the door. "Are you sure your mom is asleep?"

"Don't worry, comrade," I said, pulling him against me. "She won't come in here tonight. Besides, I locked the door so she can't come in. And if by some miracle she wants to see me tonight, you can go and hide in the closet. She won't know you're here."

He smirked. "Oh, thanks that I can go hide in your closet. That won't be uncomfortable at all."

"You're welcome."

Our kissing picked up again and this time we didn't stop to joke around. I started to feel nervous again. This was the first time a guy would see me naked. And it was Dimitri, for God's sake. It made me feel even more nervous, even though I had no reason to. I knew Dimitri wouldn't hurt me. He would be like the gentleman he always was.

Dimitri noticed my sudden nervousness and stopped kissing me. Looking up at me, he said softly, "You don't have to be nervous, Roza. I won't do anything you don't like. And if you want me to stop, that's okay, too. Just tell me."

"No, don't stop," I said quickly.

He smiled and stroked my cheek. "Tell me if you change your mind. It's not too late."

"I won't change my mind."

"Okay."

He pressed his lips against mine again and his tongue traced my bottom lip. I opened my mouth to grant him entrance and his tongue brushed against mine. His hands traveled up and down my sides. A soft moan escaped my lips as his lips moved away from mine to place feather light kisses from my jaw down to my neck. My hands slid over his chest and onto his shoulders.

Slowly, Dimitri undid the buttons of my shirt and his eyes grew darker with lust as he glanced down at my chest.

He kissed me again and murmured against my lips, "You're beautiful."

"What?" That surprised me. Most guys called me hot and sexy, but never beautiful. And I especially hadn't expected to hear it from Dimitri, although it felt nice to hear him say that.

He looked at me again and smiled. I turned bright red under his gaze. "You're beautiful," he repeated. His lips moved to mine again and I forgot the whole world around me as he kissed me passionately. "Promise me something," he said when he pulled away.

"What?" I asked, breathing heavily.

"Never cut your hair." He ran his hand through my long, brown hair. "Promise me you'll never cut it."

I didn't know why my hair meant so much to Dimitri, but I promised him I would never cut it. "I won't."

He smiled and his mouth found mine again. We got lost in each other again as our tongues explored each other's mouth. My hands moved down to the hem of his shirt and I tugged. He took the hint and pulled back to take off his shirt. I'd seen him topless before, but that had been a while ago. During that time he'd certainly gained some muscles. I'd always thought he looked good, but now I had to admit he was actually pretty hot. It was no wonder there were always so many girls ogling him and now I felt like I was one of them. He was a real heartthrob.

"Something wrong, Roza?" Dimitri said teasingly as a few strands of his hair fell in his face.

Quickly, I averted my eyes. When I dared a peek at him again, I tried to be my usual witty self. "Not at all, comrade. Just wondering where all those muscles come from. Have you been working out?"

He just grinned and hovered over me again. I pressed my lips against his and let my hands roam over his bare chest. More clothes came off and it ended all in a pile on the floor.

Dimitri reached around me to unclasp my bra. His eyes widened when he took in the sight before him. I flushed and I suddenly felt like hiding behind my pillow. Dimitri noticed my unease.

"Don't be so insecure. You've got nothing to be ashamed of," he said softly, lifting my chin with his fingers so he could look me in the eyes. "I meant it when I said you're beautiful."

I swallowed heavily and tried to calm down. He leaned down to kiss me again and his hands moved to my waist. My breath caught as I felt his erection press against my thigh. After a while he pulled away again to remove my underwear and his boxers. I tried not to stare when I looked down and saw _him. _I gulped. Dimitri caught me looking and I blushed.

"We can still stop, Roza," he said. "I don't want to hurt you…"

"No!" I said. "I don't want to stop. I want this."

"Are you sure?" Dimitri asked. "I don't want you to regret it in the morning."

"I won't," I promised. I moved closer to him and kissed him, trying to reassure him and also myself. "I won't regret it."

He nodded and then took the condom. I lay down again and took a deep breath. _Oh my God. This is it. _I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them, Dimitri was on top of me again.

"You can still back out of this," he said.

I shook my head and smiled despite of my nervousness. "No, I want this."

He captured my lips with his again and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He moved his lips down to my collarbone and then slowly made his way back to my lips. Dimitri pressed his body against mine and put his arms on either side of my upper body.

"Are you sure?" he asked once again. "It's not too late to-"

I crushed my lips against his to shut him up. _There, that should give him the answer._ "I'm a hundred percent sure, Dimitri," I said when I pulled away.

He nodded and kissed my lips tenderly. "I'll be gentle," he whispered. "I promise."

His eyes locked with mine as he slowly eased himself into me. I gasped and dug my fingernails into his back.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking at me with worry. "Do you want me to stop?"

"No," I quickly said, even though it hurt a little. "I'm fine." I tried to relax. "Keep going."

Gently, he thrusted his hips forward. I concentrated on him and tried to forget the pain. Slowly, it faded as he moved inside of me. I lifted my legs and wrapped them around his waist. Dimitri moaned softly and rested his head in the crook of my neck. I relaxed as we continued to slowly rock against each other.

When we both reached our peak, Dimitri collapsed against me and rested his head on my chest. My body felt sore, but it had been worth it. It had been amazing to be with Dimitri this way.

Dimitri shifted, lifted his weight off of me and pulled away to remove the condom. After throwing it away in the trash, he lay down beside me again and pulled me in his arms.

I looked up at him and smiled. He smiled too and pressed a soft kiss against my lips. I sighed and rested my head on his chest as he stroked my hair.

I looked up at him after a while and murmured, "Thank you, Dimitri."

He leaned down and kissed me gently. He continued to stroke my hair and I rested my head on his chest again and closed my eyes.

"I love you," Dimitri murmured.

I smiled. "I love you, too."

We said that all the time to each other, but we didn't mean anything more with it. It was true. I loved him. He was my best friend. He meant the world to me. I'd do anything for him. But I wasn't in love with him. Or so I'd like to believe.

I told myself every day I just loved him as a friend, but the last couple of weeks I wondered if it was maybe something more. My heart always started beating faster when he was around me and when he smiled at me… oh, that gorgeous smile of his, it made my heart skip a beat. I had absolutely wanted him to be my first and now I knew how it was like to be with him… I didn't want to let go of him anymore. I wanted to feel his lips on mine again and not just tonight. Maybe I was just feeling these things because of what we just did, but something told me it was more than that.

I didn't know how he felt about me. I thought he just saw me as a friend and that's why it surprised me so much when he said the next words.

"I can't pretend anymore," he suddenly said.

I sat up, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I love you," he said. "Not just as a friend, but – I mean, I'm _in _love with you."

I stared at him, shocked. "Wh-what?"

He bit his lip. "I…" He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Standing up, he reached for his clothes. "Forget I said anything," he said while getting dressed. He'd misunderstood my shock. "I – I have to go home. I'll see you in the morning."

And before I could stop him or say anything, he opened the window and disappeared into the darkness. I wanted to call him back, but my mom was asleep and I didn't want to wake her up. I bit my lip and tried to fight my tears.

Sighing, I closed the window again and lay down in bed. I stared at the ceiling, thinking. _Oh my God. He said he loved me. He said he loved me. _

I wish he wouldn't have left so fast. If he'd stayed longer, I could've told him I felt the same way. But what point was there to tell him, really? I had to leave tomorrow. I wouldn't see him anymore for at least three years. He would forget about me and move on. This would not end well, no matter if I told him how I felt. As I realized this, the tears spilled from my eyes.

I didn't sleep that night. When I stood up in the morning, my eyes were puffy and red rimmed. I hoped my mom wouldn't notice and if she did, I could still tell her I'd been crying because we were leaving. It wasn't even a lie. But most of all, I'd been crying because I would lose Dimitri.

After everything was loaded into the car, I stayed outside the house, waiting for Dimitri to show up. My mom waited in the car for me and I could see she was impatient. I started to think Dimitri wasn't going to come anymore and, sighing, I made my way to the car.

"Roza."

My heart skipped a beat when I heard his voice. I came to a standstill and slowly, turned around. Dimitri stood a few feet away from me, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"I didn't think you would show up," I said softly.

"Of course I would've come to say goodbye," he answered, his voice just as soft.

Hesitantly, he took a step closer to me. I walked toward him and stopped right in front of him.

"Dimitri, about last night, I-"

"No, forget it," he interrupted.

"_No!_ I need to tell you something before I leave," I said. "It's important that you know."

"Okay…" he said hesitantly.

I took a deep breath. "I feel the same way."

I'd thought about it a lot last night. Actually, it was the only thing I'd thought about last night. And I really did love him. Not just as a good friend. No, he meant so much more to me. What we did last night proved it. I wouldn't have asked him to do that if I hadn't had feelings for him. I just didn't want to believe it until now.

Dimitri looked uncertain and I smiled. "I'm in love with you, Dimitri."

He frowned slightly. "What? But I thought…last night…when I-"

"I wanted to tell you," I interrupted his rambling, "but you were gone before I could."

"I'm sorry about that," Dimitri said. "I shouldn't have run out on you like that."

"It's okay," I answered. "I understand." I sighed and hugged him. "I'm going to miss you so much."

His arms wrapped around me as he held me tight. "I don't want you to go," he whispered. "I don't want to lose you."

"You won't lose me," I promised him. "I'll be back before you know it."

"You promise?" he asked softly.

I nodded. "Yes. I'll call you every day. And I'll write you. Until I'm back."

"When you're back…" He swallowed heavily and tried again. "When you're back, can we be together then? Do you want to give us a chance?"

"Yes. There's nothing I want more than that."

He smiled. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

A tear escaped the corner of my eye and he gently wiped it away. My mom decided this was the right moment to honk. Her look told me she wanted to leave. Now.

"I have to go," I said, my voice breaking. I didn't want to cry in front of him. I wanted to be strong so I forced the tears back. "My mom is waiting for me."

Dimitri kissed my forehead. "Call me when you get there, okay?"

I nodded and wanted to turn away, but Dimitri grabbed my wrist. His other hand snaked behind my neck and he drew me closer as his lips pressed against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let myself forget about the rest of the world for a moment. Dimitri moved his hand to my waist as our lips continued to move in sync. We were interrupted by another honk from my mom. Dimitri let me go and as he looked at me, I could see tears in his eyes.

"I'll wait for you," he promised. His lips brushed against mine again and then he let go of me completely.

Slowly, I walked to the car, my eyes still on Dimitri as I got in. Looking out of the window, I gave him a weak smile and waved at him as my mom started the car. She drove away and I turned in my seat. My eyes were focused on Dimitri, who stood now on the street and waved at me. I could see that he was no longer holding back his tears. When I couldn't see him anymore, I turned around and looked out of the window again so my mom wouldn't see me cry.

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**This is my first fanfic. If there are some mistakes, I'm sorry. English is not my first language. I hope you like it. Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all so much for the reviews, follows and favorites! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy. **

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**CHAPTER 2**

_Three years later _

**RPOV**

"Thank you, Mark," I said smiling as I opened the car door.

"It's fine, Rose," he said smiling back at me. He used to be a friend of my mom when we lived in Baia. I was glad I'd run into him at the airport. Otherwise I would've had to pay for a taxi. But Mark had been so nice to take me back to Baia with him. "I'm glad you're back."

"Me too. Thanks again," I said as I exited the car. "Say hi to Oksana for me."

"I will," he said. "I'll see you around, Rose."

"Bye, Mark."

He drove away and I looked at my surroundings, sighing happily. I was finally home, where I belonged. After three agonizing long years I had made it back. I couldn't keep the grin of my face as I started walking. Okay, I was homeless, but still, I was _home_. My mom had sold the house where we used to live, but a few weeks ago I'd heard from her that the couple who'd bought our house wanted to move so I'd called them and asked if I could buy it from them. Of course, I didn't have any money. I had to save a lot to even make it here, but for my friend, Lissa, money was not an issue. I got to know Lissa when I moved to Montana. We went to the same boarding school and she became my best friend. She had decided to move here with me so she could start over. Her parents and brother had died in a tragic car accident and she'd been all alone until she met me. Fortunately for her, her parents had left her a great deal of money, what made it possible for her to move here and buy my old house. And I could come and live with her. How great was that?

The only problem was that the couple wouldn't move out until next week. I was a week early so now I had to find another place to sleep for this week until Lissa came. She was still in America since she had some business to take care off. I could've waited for her, but I wanted to come back here as soon as possible. I'd left almost all my stuff behind in Montana. I'd only taken certain necessities with me, like clothes and a tooth brush, and some important personal belongings.

I dragged my luggage forward and started smiling again when I walked into the street I used to live. My house looked still the same as I'd left it, but that's not what was important right now. The thing – or rather, person – what was most important lived in the house next door. And I was finally going to see him again. After three very long years, I would finally see him again.

When I came closer, I saw that he was already outside. Even after all this time, I could still recognize him in a matter of seconds. It probably had something to do with his height, too. I'd never met someone as tall as him. Even when he was still a teenager, he was taller than most adults.

He was working on a car. There was a tool kit next to him. The hood was open and he bent over the engine. As I approached him, my heart started beating faster. After all these years, I would finally have him back in my life.

I stopped a few feet away from him. "Dimitri," I said softly.

Even though I'd spoken quietly, he'd heard me. He stiffened and slowly turned around. His eyes widened in shock when he saw me. I smiled at him.

"Roza?" he said, blinking as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

I nodded and my smile grew wider. "Hi."

"Roza! It is you!" He dropped the tools and before I knew it I was in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his chest. I didn't care that his shirt was dirty from working. All I cared about was him. He laughed and twirled me around. "I can't believe you're back!" He put me down again, but kept his arms around my waist.

"I told you I would come back," I said grinning.

He smiled brightly. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

I looked at his face. He still looked the same. Shoulder length brown hair, tied back into a ponytail. Warm brown eyes. Gorgeous smile. As I was studying him, he seemed to do the same. Still smiling, he brushed a strand of hair out of my face. I felt a jolt of electricity run through my body as he touched the side of my face. After all this time, he still had the same effect on me.

"Dimka!" someone called from the backyard. "Dimka, are you almost finished? I'd really like to-"

Dimitri let go of me when a woman with raven black hair and piercing blue eyes appeared. I was sure that was not one of his sisters, but she looked familiar. She walked toward us with a smile on her face.

"Hi," she said politely to me, though her smile faded a bit.

"Hi," I greeted.

Dimitri cleared his throat. "Rose, this is Tasha, my…um…fiancée," he introduced us. "Tasha, you remember Rose, right?"

"Sure," she said, giving me a fake smile. "You were his best friend, right?"

It took me a while to respond. "Y-yes," I said at last and I tried to smile, but failed miserably.

Oh my God. He was engaged. To Tasha. Now he'd said her name I recognized her. She was the older sister of a friend of mine, Christian Ozera. She was also the girl that had chased Dimitri for years. He'd never showed any interest in her, but apparently they had become friends – even more than that – in my absence.

I also noticed the sudden lack of "Roza". He used to call me Roza all the time. He never called me Rose unless he was mad at me. Or was he really over me and did he just see me now as an old friend from a couple of years ago?

"So you guys are engaged?" I asked, hoping he would tell me this was a joke.

"Yes," Tasha said smiling brightly as she put her arm around his waist.

I swallowed heavily. "Wow. Congratulations," I said, faking a smile.

"Thank you," Tasha said. She looked up at Dimitri and kissed his cheek. "We are looking forward to the wedding."

Dimitri didn't say anything. He'd averted his eyes and looked at the ground. I looked down too and tried to stay calm. This was not what I'd had in mind when I came back here. I'd thought that if I came back, I would have Dimitri back. I thought we could finally be together, but thinking about that now, it sounded ridiculous. I'd left him here and he'd promised he would wait for me, but it had taken me for over three years to come back. Of course he wouldn't have waited this long for me. He met someone else – Tasha, apparently – and moved on, just as I'd feared he would. How stupid had I been to think he would have waited for my return? And I didn't blame him. Three years was a long time.

"Um, you should go and say hi to the rest of the family," Dimitri finally broke the awkward silence. "Viktoria will be very happy to have you back."

I faked another smile. "Sure. Let's go."

"Here, let me help you with that," Dimitri said as he took my luggage from me.

I wanted to protest, but decided against it. He was only trying to help. I followed the happy couple inside, suddenly wondering if coming back here was the right idea after all.

**DPOV**

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her standing there in front of me. Rose was back. My Roza was back. Without thinking, I ran to her and scooped her up in my arms, twirling her around. It felt so good to hold her again. A big smile broke out on my face as I set her down again. I drank in her features. Her dark brown eyes, her full lips, her long dark brown hair that felt like silk between my fingers. I could barely believe that she was really here and not just some figment of my imagination.

But then I heard a familiar voice call my name and that's when reality set in. I quickly let go of Rose and looked at Tasha, who approached us. My smile dropped as I introduced them to each other. The look on Rose her face when I said Tasha was my fiancée told me she was utterly shocked. Well, so was I. I was barely twenty years old and already engaged.

An awkward silence fell. I didn't want to look Rose in the eyes so I continued to stare at the ground. I felt Tasha's arm around me and I felt like pushing her away, but I didn't want to get her mad so I let her arm stay.

I finally broke the silence and told Rose she should go inside and greet my family. They missed her company very much the last couple of years and they would be very happy to have her back, especially Vika. I took Rose her luggage and we went inside.

"Mama, guess who's back?" I said as we walked into the kitchen.

"Who's back, honey?" Mama asked distractedly as she continued to clean the stove.

"Rose," I said.

Mama gasped and turned around. "Oh, Rose! I can't believe you're back!"

They hugged each other and soon the rest of the family came down. They were all happy to see Rose again. Viktoria was almost jumping up and down with joy and Paul already claimed Rose as his new play mate.

"Are you here on vacation or are you moving back?" Karolina asked.

"I'm moving back here," Rose answered.

My heart skipped a beat. She was staying here? Permanently? I thought she was just here to visit. Did this mean I would have my best friend back?

My sisters started to ask a lot of questions. Where was she going to live? Why did she wait so long to come back? I listened carefully to her answers.

Apparently she had to work a lot to be able to come back here. A friend of hers would be coming soon and then they would move in in Rose her old house. The Szelsky's, who lived there now, would move out next week so she needed a place to crash this week. She was planning on going to a hotel for this week, but that was until I opened my mouth.

"You can stay with me," I offered.

I felt Tasha's gaze on me, but I ignored her. It was hard to ignore her, though, because her fingernails dug hard in my arm. I shot her an apologetic look and shrugged.

"Are you serious, Dimitri?" Rose asked. She looked at Tasha and then at me. "I mean, I don't want to intrude…"

"No, it's fine," I said. "You can sleep in the guestroom."

Last year I'd bought a small house with the money I'd saved. I had no other choice than to go and live somewhere else, because it was becoming too crowded here and to be honest, there were too many women here. Viktoria used to sleep with Sonya in the same room, but then Sonya got pregnant – we still don't know who the father is – so Viktoria moved to my old bedroom so Sonya could have more space. And then there was Paul. He was almost ten now and didn't want to sleep anymore with his mom in the same room. So he also got his own room. There was no way for Rose to stay here, unless she wanted to sleep on the couch. I, on the other hand, was on my own and I had a guestroom. She could sleep there and that would save her money.

"Are you sure?" Rose asked.

"Yes, it's not a problem," I said smiling.

"Okay then," Rose said grinning. "Thanks, comrade."

My heart swelled as I heard her call me that. It had been three years since I'd heard it. She was the only one who called me by that nickname. I hated the nickname at first. In the beginning I'd tried to stop her calling me that, but it had had no use. And now, after all this time we hadn't seen each other, I was kind of glad that she still liked to call me that.

Tasha nudged me. "Can I talk to you in private?" she mumbled.

"Excuse me," I said to Rose.

I followed Tasha to the hall, knowing this couldn't be good, and waited for her outburst. She turned to me and crossed her arms.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed. "Why are you inviting a stranger into your house?"

I was happy that I'd closed the door behind me. I didn't want Rose or my family to hear this.

"Rose is not a stranger," I said. "She's my best friend."

Tasha snorted. "You haven't seen her in years."

"She moved to America," I said. "How was I supposed to see her? But now she's back. And three years isn't that long," I added. In truth, I thought those three years had been way too long. Every day without her had been agonizing. I'd missed her every day. I'd thought about her every day. Memories of her had plagued my mind so often. Especially the memory of that last night with her… _Do not go there. This is not the right time to think about that. Hell, it's never the right time to think about that night. You're engaged!_

"I don't get why you want to help her," Tasha said. "I mean, did she ever give you a call? Did she let you know she was coming back? No, she just showed up here, hoping you would be a good guy and give her a place to stay."

I hated to admit it, but Tasha was right. Even though Rose had promised to call me every day, to write me every so often… She hadn't. Yes, she had for the first six months, but afterwards I hadn't gotten one call or letter ever again. I had called her every day, hoping that she would pick up the phone and talk to me. In the beginning, when I called her and she didn't pick up, I thought that maybe she'd changed her phone number and had forgotten to let me know. But after a while I had to face the truth. She just didn't want to talk to me anymore.

The same with the letters. I'd written her letters, but she hadn't written me back. At first I'd thought they had given the letters to the wrong person, but after sending fifteen letters and never getting one back… Yeah, I could be sure a mix-up wasn't the problem.

After that I'd given up. It'd broken my heart once I realized she didn't want to talk to me anymore. It had taken me a long time to get over her and until this day I'd thought I was over her. I had moved on and I was in a steady relationship with Tasha now. Even though my mind wandered a lot to Roza and that one special night when I was alone, I'd convinced myself I was over her.

But since the moment she showed up here I was more confused than ever. Why was she here if she hadn't wanted to talk to me in the past three years? She wasn't even here for an hour and she already had me confused. But what should I have expected? That I wouldn't be affected when I'd see the love of my life again? Of course that would've affected me. It was normal that I was confused. I mean…that was normal, right? _Stop thinking about it. The past is the past and you can't change it so stop thinking why she never called you back. It doesn't matter anymore. You're with Tasha and you're happy. There's no need to be confused._

"She probably had a good reason for that," I defended Rose. "And it doesn't matter, really. We were just friends. She wasn't obligated to call me or anything." _Liar._ I ignored the voice inside my head. "You don't have to worry, Tasha. She's just my friend." _Liar, liar._

Tasha sighed. "Okay then." She glanced at her watch. "I have to go to work. I'll see you tonight then for the party?"

I bit my lip. "I don't think I can go."

She stared at me. "What?"

"Rose just arrived here. I have to stay with her," I said.

"No, you don't! Why would you have to stay? If she's lonely she can come here. I'm sure your family won't mind."

"Yes, I know that, but…" I sighed. "It's been such a long time since I've seen Rose and I want to catch up. And it's not like you'll be alone there," I added, trying to convince her she should go without me. I knew it was not nice to ditch her, but I really, really wanted to talk to Rose. "All your friends will be there. You'll have enough people to talk to. You won't even notice I'm not there."

Tasha glared at me and then sighed. "Fine," she grumbled. "But I don't like it," she added gruffly. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

She gave me a swift kiss before leaving the house. I stood in the hall for a couple more minutes to calm down. After taking a deep breath, I went back to the kitchen.

Rose was chatting happily with the rest of the family. Paul was sitting on her lap and was eating chocolate. It surprised me that Rose hadn't snatched it out of his hands yet so she could eat it herself. I noticed that my grandmother was sitting at the table now, too. She was muttering something in Russian to Rose. She frowned and I couldn't help but smile.

Rose had moved here when she was five. She could've learned some Russian in all those years she lived here, but for some reason she'd refused to do that. We always switched to English whenever Rose was around, but Yeva had always spoken Russian to Rose even though she knew damn well Rose didn't understand a word of it.

I cleared my throat. "I'm going to get cleaned up and then we can go, Rose," I announced.

"Okay," she said smiling.

I went upstairs to the bathroom, my mind wandering to Rose again. I didn't know how to feel now she was back. I was happy, of course, but now Tasha had mentioned it… I really wanted to know why Rose never had called me back, why she'd never answered my letters. Had it all been a lie when she told me she loved me the day she left? Had she just said that to comfort me?

It didn't matter anymore, though. I was engaged to Tasha and I shouldn't be thinking about this anymore. I had moved on and so had Rose. But if she'd moved on, then why had she looked so disappointed when I told her I was engaged?

I heard a knock on the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yes," I called.

Mama came in and gave me a small smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," I said.

She looked at me, concerned. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes," I said. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"

"Well, I remember how you were when Rose left and what you felt for her," Mama said. "I thought that maybe…"

"Seeing her would stir up old feelings?" I finished for her. I shook my head. "No, Mama. She's just a friend. My best friend. And besides, I'm with Tasha."

"I know that, but… She's Rose, you know. She used to be very special to you," Mama said hesitantly.

"Yes. Used to," I said, emphasizing on 'used'. "I'm happy with Tasha."

I said those things not only to convince her, but also me. Maybe if I repeated it over and over again, it would be true. _It is true, Dimitri. You love Tasha._

"Okay then," Mama said. "But if you change your mind about Tasha and the wedding, I understand."

"I won't change my mind," I said immediately. "It doesn't mean because Rose is back that I'm going to change my mind."

She smiled. "Alright. I'll leave you alone, then."

She turned around and closed the door behind her back. I sighed and leaned against the sink, closing my eyes. My mind was spinning with memories of Rose and me, of us together on that last night, of Roza in the car driving away…away from me.

What was I going to do? I was already confused about my feelings for her and now I was going to have her in my house for the next following week. Maybe it wasn't such a smart idea after all, but I couldn't back out of it now. I'd said she could stay and I was determined to keep that promise.

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**So how was this chapter? Did you like it? What do you think of Dimitri being engaged to Tasha? **

**Please leave a review :) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for all the reviews, follows and favorites! I'm sorry if there are some mistakes, but I'm not feeling too well so I did this very quick. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.**

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**CHAPTER 3**

**RPOV**

"Thank you for letting me stay with you," I said to Dimitri as he opened the door for me.

"It's not a problem, Roza," he said smiling.

I walked in and he showed me around. The place looked cozy. We entered the living room and a smile made its way to my face when I saw the large bookcase against the wall.

"You're still into westerns?" I asked, running my finger along the covers.

"Yes," he said.

I smiled ruefully. "Some things never change," I mumbled. He was still the same wonderful person he'd always been, but he no longer was mine.

"What?" Dimitri asked.

I looked up at him and quickly said, "Nothing."

Then I noticed a framed photo on the mantelpiece. My breath hitched when I saw it was a picture of us. It was taken a couple of weeks before I'd left, if I remembered correctly. I was at his home that day and we were sitting on the couch, his arm around my shoulder. We were both smiling brightly into the camera. I didn't think he would still have that picture of us. I still had mine, too. It was one of the few personal things I'd brought back here.

Suddenly, I wondered what Tasha thought of this picture in Dimitri's living room. I was sure she didn't like it very much. What intrigued me even more was why he still had this picture if he'd moved on. Was it to keep the memory of him and his best friend alive? Or did it mean something more? Did I still mean something more to him? _Don't be silly, Rose. He's engaged. He moved on a long time ago. _I looked away from the picture and followed Dimitri to the guestroom. It was right next to his room.

"I'll leave you alone now so you can unpack," Dimitri said. "If you need anything, I'll be in the living room."

I nodded. "Thank you, Dimitri. I really appreciate this."

He smiled. "You're welcome."

He left and I went inside the guestroom. The walls were painted blood red and there was a king-sized bed in the middle of the room. There was a wardrobe against one of the walls and next to it a mirror, which was handy. On the other side of the room there was a small desk and a chair.

Sighing, I let myself fall on the bed and closed my eyes for a moment. I was a little bit startled when my phone started ringing. I quickly answered the call.

"Hey, Liss," I said.

"Hey, Rose! How are you? Did you get there safely?"

"I'm fine," I said tiredly.

There was silence for a few moments. "Is there something wrong?" Lissa asked at last. "Didn't you find him?"

My eyes glistened, but I fought the tears back. "I…I found him," I said, my voice trembling.

"Well, what happened?" Lissa prompted.

I was sure that if I was going to tell her now, I wasn't going to be able to hold back the tears. "I'll tell you later, Liss. I have to go now."

I didn't wait for an answer and disconnected. I knew this would worry her, but I couldn't deal with it right now. Staring at the ceiling, I tried to calm down and force my tears back. Engaged. Dimitri was engaged. After three years I'd returned, hoping I could finally be with him, but I was too late. And it was all my fault. Maybe if I hadn't stopped calling him he would've waited for me as he'd promised he would. It really was my own fault and I had to live with it for the rest of my life. How could I have screwed up the one thing that was important to me? _Calm down, Rose. You can't start crying here. Man up. _

I took a deep, calming breath and wiped at my eyes. I sat up and, taking another deep breath, I got up and left the room. I didn't bother to unpack. It was useless since I was only staying here for a week.

Dimitri was sitting on the couch, reading one of his many westerns. I plumped down next to him and tried to act like we used to. I mean, like we used to before that one special night.

Dimitri set the book down and looked at me. I could see in his eyes he had a lot of questions, but so had I and I was curious about the answers.

"So…" I said, trying to sound casual and carefree. "You're engaged?"

Dimitri nodded. "Yes, I am."

"Since when?"

"I proposed three months ago," he answered.

I forced a smile. "So Tasha lives here too?"

To my surprise, he shook his head. "Not yet. She's going to move in after the wedding."

"You already got a date picked out?" I asked.

"No," he said, "but Tasha would like to do it in the spring."

"Oh," I said. Spring was nine months away from now, which I was glad for. I wouldn't be able to handle it if he'd get married in a couple of months. I'd probably cry my eyes out all day.

"What's wrong?" Dimitri asked frowning.

"Nothing," I said quickly.

"Roza, I know that look," he said. "What is it?"

"What look?" I asked innocently.

"The look that says you don't agree with all of this."

"What do you mean by 'all of this'?"

Dimitri rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Me being engaged to Tasha."

I sighed. "You want the truth?"

"Yes, please."

"Okay." I sat up straight and looked him in the eye. "Honestly, I don't really know what to think of it. I mean, you're twenty years old. Why would you get engaged so young? And Tasha? I didn't even know you liked her. When did that happen? Last time I was here, you didn't even talk to her."

Dimitri's jaw clenched. That was always a bad sign. Had I gone too far? But he'd wanted to hear the truth and then I hadn't even said everything I wanted to.

"Well, you would have known if you'd called me once in a while," he said stiffly.

I looked down guiltily. I'd hoped he wouldn't bring this up, but that was just wishful thinking. Of course, he would have brought this up. And I didn't blame him if he was mad at me. I would be mad at him too if he'd broken contact with me without telling me why.

Suddenly, Dimitri took my hand in his. I looked up at him. "Why didn't you call me back?" he asked softly, a pained look on his face. "I called you so many times… I wrote to you, but I never got anything back from you."

I swallowed heavily and blinked my tears away.

"Why didn't you call me back?" he repeated, almost desperate.

Should I tell him the truth? Should I just admit it? I stared into his eyes. I could see the hurt in it. I'd really hurt him by shutting him out and that's why I'd lost him. The only thing I could do to make it better was to tell him the truth.

I took a deep breath and started, "Because I…" No, I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell him the truth. "Because I was busy," I said at last. That was a lame excuse, but I couldn't come up with anything better.

"Busy?" Dimitri repeated, arching one of his eyebrows. Damn, I still couldn't do that. When I was a kid I'd always been jealous when he did that trick and I couldn't. "You were too busy to give me a call?"

I bit my lip. "I…"

I was interrupted by Dimitri's phone. He ignored it at first, but it kept ringing and I motioned for him to pick up. He finally took the phone and answered the call.

"Hi Tasha," he said. He was silent for a few moments and then he said, "I'm home. And yes, Rose is here with me." Dimitri was silent again. I could hear Tasha's voice, but I didn't understand what she was saying. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

He disconnected and put his phone away. He looked at me again, his eyes no longer friendly. He was mad at me, just as he should be. I deserved it.

"I'm sorry, Dimitri," I said in a small voice. "I really am. But can we please drop it? I don't want to fight with you. Can we please forget about the past and move on? I'm back now. That's what matters, right?"

After a long, heavy silence Dimitri nodded. "Fine."

Before I could stop myself, I hugged him. "Thank you, Dimitri." He stiffened, but then relaxed and his arms wrapped around me. "I missed you so much."

Dimitri pulled away slightly so he could look me in the eyes. "I missed you too, Roza. I'm glad you're back."

"Me too."

True to his words, he didn't bring that subject up again and the rest of the night we were reminiscing about when we were kids. It saddened me, thinking back of those days. I would never get to relive them and my relationship with Dimitri would never be the same as back then. It was fun, though, to laugh with him about embarrassing things from the past. We had a lot of beautiful memories together, too, but we made sure not to talk about one memory in particular: our last night together before I'd left. It would only make the situation awkward, especially because Dimitri was engaged now.

But even so, that was my favorite memory. That night had meant a lot to me – it still meant a lot to me – and I would never forget it. Even after all these years I still thought about it a lot. Dimitri probably wouldn't think about it anymore. He had Tasha now. He'd moved on. I could only hope that one day I would be able to move on too.

**DPOV**

I tossed and turned in bed. I just couldn't fall asleep tonight. Maybe it had something to do with Rose sleeping next door. Maybe it was because I kept tormenting myself with the same old memories of her and me. I had to admit, it hurt when she told me she'd never called me back because she was too busy. And it didn't hurt just a little, it hurt bad. I mean, after everything we'd been through? We'd been best friends for ten years and right before she'd left Baia, we had shared a perfect night together – well, it had been perfect until I'd run out on her – and then she'd admitted she loved me the next day. She couldn't possibly have been that busy that she couldn't call me once in a while? I couldn't believe that was the real reason why she'd never called me back when she was in Montana.

Sighing, I glanced at the alarm clock. It was two in the morning. Great. I would be so tired tomorrow morning and Tasha wasn't going to like that. I let out another sigh and got up. I walked as quietly as I could to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water.

When I returned to my room, I heard some noise coming from Rose her room. Was she still awake? I took a couple of steps back and listened at her door. I knew it wasn't right to eavesdrop, but she was in my house and right now I didn't give a damn. And then I heard it.

My eyes widened as I heard her cry softly. Why was she crying? What was wrong with her? I wanted to walk in and ask what was going on and comfort her, but I didn't think she would appreciate that. She would know I'd been eavesdropping and she would probably start throwing things until I left.

Still, I couldn't tear myself away from the door. It tore at my heart to hear her cry. When we were younger, I'd always hated it when she cried. Luckily, I always knew how to cheer her up, but this time I couldn't cheer her up. I didn't even know why she was crying. Did it have something to do with me? _Don't be silly. Why would she cry over you? _

Reluctantly, I walked back to my room. I lay down in bed again and stared at the ceiling. What was wrong with her? Did someone hurt her? Did she had a fight with someone before she came back here? I was worried about her. I wanted to help and comfort her, but I couldn't do that without admitting I'd heard her cry and I knew she was never going to admit to me she had been crying. Sometimes she could be so stubborn. Most of the time, I liked it when she was stubborn, but sometimes it was frustrating. _What's wrong with my Roza?_

If I hadn't been able to fall asleep before, I sure as hell wouldn't fall asleep now. This was going to be a long night.

**RPOV**

I didn't sleep all night. The only thing I did was cry. I'd lost Dimitri to another woman. I'd screwed everything up. It was my fault I'd lost him. I should have never stopped calling him – or at least explained why I'd broken contact with him. Then this would have never happened. Then _I_ would have been with Dimitri and not Tasha. This was all my fault.

Slowly, I got up and got dressed. I was exhausted from lack of sleep, but I didn't want to lie in bed anymore. I went to the kitchen and saw that Dimitri was already there.

He looked up at my approach and smiled. "Good morning."

"Good morning," I mumbled as I sat down at the kitchen table.

"Did you sleep well?" Dimitri asked.

I shrugged and tried to smile. "Yeah, it was okay. Do you have some food here?" I said, trying to change the subject. It worked.

He laughed. "What do you think?"

"Well, let's hope so, because I'm starving," I said. I actually wasn't that hungry, but I wanted to distract him from asking too many questions.

"You want me to make you bliny?" he asked. The smile was still on his face.

My eyes widened. I hadn't had bliny in a very long time, but now he'd suggested it, I really wanted to eat it. "Yes! I'd love that!"

I waited impatiently while Dimitri started making my pancakes. As soon as the first bliny was ready, I wolfed it down. I was glad I could eat again like I used to – before I'd moved to Montana – and I knew that I didn't have to hold back for Dimitri. He knew how much I could eat. After eating six more pancakes I was finally full.

"You should become a chef," I said.

He looked at me and chuckled. "It's just bliny."

I finished my last pancake and downed my water. When I caught Dimitri looking at me, I said, "What? Do I have something on my face?"

That earned me another smile. "Actually you do," he said. He leaned closer to me and my breath caught as he wiped away the syrup from the corner of my mouth with his thumb. "You haven't changed one bit." He grinned and licked the syrup of his thumb.

I didn't say anything. I was too overwhelmed by his closeness. He stared into my eyes and I stared right back into his beautiful brown eyes. After all I'd done to him, he was still so nice to me. Why?

I averted my eyes and cleared my throat. When I dared to look up again, I saw that Dimitri was still looking at me. I was starting to feel uneasy under his heavy gaze and said, "What?"

Dimitri frowned slightly and asked with worry in his voice, "Are you okay?"

I looked at him funnily. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"I don't know... You seem different," he said carefully. "You're not as happy as you used to be. Did something happen in Montana? Is there a reason why you came back?"

_Of course there is a reason. You are the reason! _"Nope, I'm okay. And you know I said to you that I would come back here."

"But if there is something, you would tell me, right?" he said, taking my hand in his and squeezing it gently. "You know I would help you."

I smiled and squeezed back. "I know, but everything is alright, Dimitri. Don't worry."

After all this time, he was still there for me. He still wanted to help me when something was wrong, just like he had when we were younger. Back then, he had helped me a lot and he had been there for me a lot of times. He'd always been protecting me, making sure I was alright. I'd wanted to do the same for him, but there weren't many times that he'd needed my help or my comfort. There had been one occasion, though, when he'd really needed me. I could remember it perfectly.

_I was in my room, trying to make it look less messy, because my mom was pissed because I hadn't tidied my room in ages. Suddenly, I heard a knock on my window. I turned and saw Dimitri. I grinned, but it faded quickly when I saw the distraught look on his face. I hurried to the window and opened it. Dimitri climbed inside and I immediately asked what was wrong. _

"_What happened, Dimitri?" I asked. "Have you…have you been crying?"_

_I could see his eyes were red rimmed and puffy. He averted his eyes and his bottom lip started to tremble. _

"_Dimitri, you can tell me. What's wrong?" _

_I pushed him gently down on my bed and sat beside him. He looked at me and then glanced down again. Swallowing, he said, "I beat up my dad."_

_I gasped. "What?"_

_He looked up at me again and I could see the pain in his eyes. _

"_What happened?" I asked. "Did he do something to you? Is that why-"_

"_I'm fine," he said. Tears filled his eyes. "It's Mama. They were fighting and… I heard him screaming at her. I went downstairs to tell him to stop yelling at her like that. But when I got to the kitchen… He was beating her. I saw it. She was crying and begged him to stop, but he…he just kept beating her. I pulled him away from her and then I beat him up. And now he's gone." _

_I bit my lip and put an comforting arm around him. "Oh, Dimitri. I'm so sorry. Is your mom okay?" _

_He nodded. "She's fine now."_

_I looked at him with compassion and hugged him. He buried his face in the crook of my neck and wrapped his arms around me. My poor Dimitri. His father had always been a jerk to his wife and kids. He was always yelling at them. But to think he would actually beat Olena… I hadn't expected that. I'd never liked the guy, but I hadn't thought that he would go this far. And now Dimitri had learned him a lesson and beat him up. Wow. He was only thirteen and he beat up his dad. It was hard to believe he could do something like that, but Dimitri was very tall and strong for his age. _

_I pulled back from the hug. "Are you okay?" I asked as I looked at him. _

_He nodded. "I…I'm fine." He looked down at his hands and I noticed the bruises on his knuckles. "I beat up my father," he whispered. "Mama will hate me."_

"_No, of course not," I said, trying to soothe him. "She won't hate you. Why would you think that?"_

"_But he's gone because of me!" Dimitri exclaimed. "It's my fault he left."_

"_It's not your fault, Dimitri. Your father had it coming. He treated you and your mom like dirt. You're better off without him. She won't hate you for that. You protected her from him. She's only going to be thankful you did that for her."_

"_You really think so?" he asked, uncertain. _

"_Of course. She loves you," I said. _

_He sighed in relief, but then worry lined his face again. "What about you? You won't hate me because I did that?"_

_I gave him a small smile. "No, of course not. I think it's good you did that. Okay, it was probably not the best thing to do, but someone had to put him in place and you did exactly that. I'm proud of you. And nothing, nothing in this world could ever make me hate you."_

_He smiled through his tears and hugged me tight. "Thank you, Roza." _

_I smiled at him and ruffled his hair. "You're welcome, comrade. Now go back to your mom and give her a hug. And let her check your hands," I added. _

_He gave me one last hug and kissed my cheek. "I'll see you later, Roza."_

_He climbed out of my window again and climbed down the ladder. I watched as he ran to the fence, hoisting himself over it, and walked into his house. Sighing, I went back to cleaning my room, my thoughts still with Dimitri. I hoped he would be alright. _

It had been one of the few times when I'd taken care of him. Looking into Dimitri's eyes, I realized that I would never have to take care of him again. He no longer was that little boy who'd needed comfort from a friend. And if he had a problem now, he would no longer come to me. He would go to Tasha and she would help him. But regardless of that, he would still try to take care of me.

"Are you sure? You can trust me," Dimitri said. "It's not because you were gone for the last three years that I'm not your friend anymore. I'm still your friend and you can still trust me."

I smiled and lifted my hand to tuck a loose strand of his hair behind his ear. "I know and I trust you, Dimitri. I really do, but there's nothing wrong. I swear."

My hand was on his cheek now and he leaned into my touch. Suddenly, he reached out with his free hand. I thought he was going to pull my hand away from him, but he lay his hand over mine and intertwined our fingers. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, he said softly, "I'm so, so glad you're back. Please don't ever leave again."

I gave him a small smile. "I won't."

We stared into each other's eyes and slowly, he leaned in. My heart pounded in my chest and I was afraid he would hear it. All I could think about at this moment was his lips and the way they'd felt on mine the night before I'd left him and that maybe there was a small chance that after all this time he still had feelings for me. Could that be true?

I closed my eyes and waited to feel his lips on mine. But I would never get the chance to feel them on mine again. The doorbell rang and Dimitri and I sprang apart. We stared at each other for a second, shocked, and then he swallowed heavily and turned around to answer the door.

I sat down again and tried to act casually, in case it was Tasha who was at the door. But all the while my mind was spinning. _Oh God. I almost kissed Dimitri! We'd been so close…_

"Rose, it's for you!" Dimitri called.

Frowning, I got up from my chair and went to the front door. Dimitri averted his eyes and looked at the floor when I joined him.

"So the rumors are true. Rose Hathaway is back in town."

Slowly, a grin spread across my face when I saw who was in front of me. "Nice to see you too."

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**So how was this chapter? Any guesses why Rose broke contact with Dimitri? And can anyone guess who's at the door? I know, the ending isn't great, but yeah... **

**Please leave a review and tell me what you think :) **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey! Thank you for making time to read this story and thank you for the reviews! Most people thought it's Adrian or Mason at the door so I guess you're going to be a little disappointed when you read who's at the door. I hope you enjoy this chapter, anyway. **

**Btw, did anyone hear about the official VA cast? What are your thoughts? Do you like the cast? I really wanted Odette Annable to be Rose and Ben Barnes to be Dimitri, but yeah... I was upset and mad at first when I saw who the cast was, but I looked the actors up and now I'm okay with the cast. I think Zoey Deutch will be a great Rose and Danila Kozlovskiy looks pretty good, too. He's a Russian so I guess he'll make a good Dimitri. I heard he's a great actor. I don't know how to feel about Lucy Fry as Lissa, though. **

**But anyway, here's the next chapter. **

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**CHAPTER 4**

**RPOV**

"So you made any friends yet since my departure?" I asked Christian Ozera.

He smirked. "Sure. Everyone loves me here. Isn't that right, Dimitri?"

Dimitri grinned. "Yeah, you're probably the most popular guy in town."

I rolled my eyes. "Ha! He could never be popular."

There was nobody here who really liked Christian. I thought that was too bad, because he was fun to hang out with. Sometimes. Not always, though. And it was kind of Christian's own fault that no one liked him. He was snarky, sarcastic, rude and he liked to set things on fire. Or, well, he used to like that when he was a kid. Growing up, he learned setting things on fire wasn't some kind of hobby you could practice. He was my age and we'd met in school. He'd always been a loner there and I'd felt sorry for him so I became friends with him. It hadn't been easy, though. Because of his personality – and mine, because let's face it, I'm not easy either – we'd hated each other's guts at first, but at long last we became friends. I'd introduced Christian to Dimitri later on and they became friends, too. Now I suddenly wondered if Christian was the reason why Dimitri and Tasha had become so close over the last few years. Dimitri probably hung out with Christian a lot when I hadn't been around and maybe that's why he'd started talking to Tasha.

"If that's true, then it's because of you," Christian retorted.

"Me? But I _am_ popular," I said grinning.

He rolled his eyes. "Dream on."

"You're just jealous because you're not as cool as me."

He sighed. "Oh, Rosie, how much I've missed you."

I punched him in the arm. "Don't call me that."

He just grinned. We went back to the kitchen and sat down to talk.

"Dude, you should check your phone because Tasha called you three times this morning," Christian suddenly said to Dimitri. "She's pretty mad."

Dimitri's eyes widened and he cursed in Russian as he ran to his bedroom. I had no idea what he had said. When we were younger, I'd begged Dimitri almost every day to teach me how to swear in Russian, but he'd refused every time. He'd probably refuse again if I'd ask him now.

"Do they fight a lot?" I asked Christian.

He shrugged. "Not so much. It's just… my sister isn't easy and she gets upset really fast. Especially with him. He does pretty much everything she wants him to do so she won't get angry at him."

I frowned. "Doesn't he say anything about it? I mean, it's not fair if Tasha takes it all out on him, right?"

The Dimitri I knew would say something back and he would definitely not let himself be pushed around.

Christian shrugged. "Tasha is not nice company when she's angry. It's better if you just do as she says."

"Weird," I mumbled. I didn't understand why Dimitri would put up with that. I knew for a fact he didn't like to be commanded – unless it was by me of course. I used to do it all the time and then he would do all the things I wanted him to do with a smile. But if someone else bossed him around… No way that he would listen. Maybe he'd changed.

"She wasn't happy when he told her yesterday that he wasn't going to go with her to the party," Christian continued. "You should've seen her face when she came home."

I frowned. "What party? Was there a party last night?"

"Some birthday party of a friend of hers," Christian answered. "I understand why Dimitri didn't want to go, though. I mean, he doesn't know any of her friends and what was he going to do there anyway? Chat along with all those women?" Sighing, he shook his head. "Honestly, I don't even get why he dates her."

"Wow, you're very supportive of their relationship," I said, kind of surprised by his admission.

Christian gave me a small smile. "You know I've always thought that Dimitri was meant to be with you."

I looked down at my hands and sighed. "Yeah, well…that's not going to happen." I cleared my throat and looked back at Christian. "So why didn't Dimitri want to go with Tasha to the party?"

"Tasha told me it was because of you," Christian said slowly.

"Because of me?" I repeated. Wow. That surprised me even more. "Why?"

Christian shrugged. "Don't ask me. According to Tasha he said to her he wanted to spend time with you because it had been so long since he'd seen you."

Really? Could I be the reason why he had wanted to stay home? It made my heart flutter thinking that Dimitri had rather stayed with me than go with Tasha to the party.

"But I think…" Christian paused and frowned slightly. I was curious about what he wanted to say. He clearly took his time to formulate his next words and I almost snapped at him to hurry up when he finally continued, "I think he still has feelings for you."

My heart started pounding faster. How would Christian now that? He couldn't have known that Dimitri and I had loved each other, because we'd only admitted it to each other right before I'd left. Unless Dimitri had told him, which would surprise me since he was a very private person, Christian didn't know anything about it.

"What? That's ridiculous," I said. "Why do you think that?"

He raised his eyebrows. "You kidding me, Rose? You were always with Dimitri. You two were inseparable. I saw how he was around you. I saw that he loved you. And I knew that you felt the same way about him, too, but you were both too stubborn to admit it. And when you left…" He shook his head. "You should've seen Dimitri. He was crushed. The only thing that kept him going was knowing that he'd hear your voice again on the phone when he would come home from school. And then one day…you stopped calling. You stopped writing him." Tears had formed in my eyes and I had to bite my lip to keep them from spilling. Christian looked at me, his face grave. "You broke his heart, Rose. And until this very day he never understood why. And neither do I, really," he added. "It took him a long time to recover. When he finally started to get happy again, he started dating my sister. But even though he was dating her, he never forgot about you. I'm pretty sure that now you're back, he's confused about his feelings. And I know that you still love him. That's why you came back, right?"

I looked at my hands again. I wasn't going to deny any of it. He was right. I still loved him and I came back for him. As for the other things... I didn't know if Dimitri still loved me. Probably not if he was going to marry someone else. No matter what I felt for him, he deserved to be happy with someone else. After everything I'd put him through – and it was a lot – he deserved to be happy. It broke my heart to hear Christian tell me how sad Dimitri had been when I'd stopped calling him. Now he was finally happy again and I was here to wreck it all again for him.

A tear rolled down my cheek. "Aren't you angry with me for making him confused? I mean, he's going to marry your sister…"

"No, I'm not angry," Christian answered. "I never thought that Tasha was the right girl for him and I've said that to him. He didn't believe me, of course, and said that he was happy with her. Whether it is because of you or not, he's going to realize she's not the right person for him sooner or later. I just hope he'll realize it before the wedding…before he breaks my sister's heart too much."

I sighed. "I'm sorry, Christian."

"It's not your fault, Rose." He gave me a small smile. It faded quickly and his face grew serious again. "But I am curious, though… Why did you stop calling him?"

I bit my lip. "I can't talk about this, Christian."

He nodded. "I understand, but I think you should tell Dimitri the truth. He deserves at least that much."

"I know," I whispered.

It was quiet for a while until a door was slammed shut. Dimitri came rushing in and took his wallet and keys. "I have to go to Tasha," he said. "Will you be okay, Rose?"

"Yes, I'll be fine," I said, forcing a smile. "I've got Christian to keep me company."

"Okay. I'll see you later then."

"Have fun," I said.

He snorted and muttered something I didn't understand. But from the sound of it, he wasn't too happy. Were there problems between him and Tasha? When the front door closed, Christian turned to me and gave me a knowing look. It told me that there were indeed problems between Dimitri and his fiancée.

**DPOV**

Tasha was mad. And not just a little bit. She'd already been cranky when I'd told her yesterday that I would rather stay home with Rose so I could talk to her. And now that I had missed her three phone calls, she was pissed. She thought I was ignoring her because Rose was here. That was not true. I'd just forgotten my phone in my room, which is why I hadn't heard her calls.

I was on my way now to Tasha to calm her down and tell her I wasn't ignoring her. I'd tried to tell her that over the phone, but she'd been ranting over and over again over the fact that I hadn't called her back, even after she'd called me three times. It took me some time to finally get her to calm down and explain to her that I'd forgotten my phone in my room. Of course, she didn't want to listen to me. But then again, when did she ever want to listen to me?

"You aren't cheating on me, are you?" she asked, her eyes flashing with anger.

"No!" I exclaimed. This was only getting worse and I was getting angry at her for thinking I would cheat on her. Or maybe I was just getting angry at myself because I'd almost kissed Rose before Christian had interrupted us and then Tasha would be right about me cheating on her. _Don't think about that now._ "I wouldn't do that, Tasha! Why would you think that?"

"Because it's Rose we're talking about," she snapped.

I crossed my arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what I mean! She used to flirt with guys all the time and they loved it."

"That's not true!" I said. Rose had flirted with guys, yeah, but only the ones she'd truly liked. Tasha made it sound like she flirted with every guy she met. "And what does it matter if she does? She's just a friend and she knows we're engaged. She would never try anything with me, if that's what you're getting at."

"Are you really that naive?" Tasha yelled. "She's going to try to steal you away from me!"

I looked at her, incredulous. "Please tell me this is a joke."

"I'm not kidding, Dimka," she said. I narrowed my eyes. I didn't like it when she called me that. I hated that nickname. Unfortunately, she always called me Dimka. "Before she left, you were always with her," she continued. "_Always._ It was like she tried really hard to keep you away from…other people."

Rose had never tried to keep me away from talking to other people – or talking to _her_. I was sure that was what she'd wanted to say before she quickly changed it to 'other people'. In truth, I had never wanted to talk to anyone except Rose. I'd never needed anyone else in my life but Rose.

But still, Tasha was trying to blame this on Rose. She was accusing Rose of things she hadn't done. I went along with a lot of things Tasha said or told me to do, but this… Hearing her talk about Rose like this. No, this I couldn't accept.

"Rose didn't do that," I said calmly, even though I was mad. "If I didn't talk to anyone else but her, then it's because I didn't want to. Not because Rose told me not to."

She pursed her lips and didn't say anything. I knew she was still mad and normally I would do anything to fix it, but now I was mad at her, too.

Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair. "I have to go to work. I'll talk to you later. When you're calmed down and realize how ridiculous this is."

I turned around and left. I got in my car and slammed the door shut, cursing loudly. I tried to calm down as I drove toward the dojo. I was running late for work because of this argument. I arrived just in time for the first client.

I'd started working at the dojo when I'd graduated high school. I had intended to work here only during the summer to save some money, but during that summer a girl had been brutally murdered in this area and a lot of people suddenly had wanted to learn how to defend themselves. They'd asked me to work here permanently and I'd accepted.

As I was going through the motions with the client, my thoughts wandered to what Tasha had said. I couldn't believe she'd think I'd cheat on her with Rose. But then again… I almost had. This morning I had wanted to kiss Rose and I would have if Christian hadn't interrupted us. I didn't know if I was happy he had or not. I didn't know how to feel about it. _Would she have kissed me back?_

I really wanted to know the answer to that question, but I would never find out unless I really did kiss her. But I couldn't do that. I was engaged. I couldn't kiss Rose. Why was I even thinking about that? It was wrong. I couldn't think about another woman when I was in a relationship with Tasha. _But it's Roza. In all these years you've always thought about her. You've always loved her. _I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. No, I didn't love her anymore. I got over her two years ago. I loved Tasha now.

When I got home from work, I was surprised to see Tasha sitting on the doorstep. Whenever we had a fight, I was the one who had to make an effort to make it right. She sprang up and ran to me as I got out of the car.

"I'm sorry!" she cried out as she flung her arms around me. "I don't trust Rose, but if you do…then it's fine by me. I believe you if you tell me that nothing's going on between you two."

Wow. This surprised me even more. Tasha had never apologized to me before. It was always the other way around, even when I hadn't done anything wrong.

"Are we okay? You're not mad at me, are you?" she asked.

Actually I was mad at her. But I guess it was better to let it go. She'd come here to apologize – something that was rare for her – so it was best to accept her apology. "Yes, we are okay," I said softly.

She smiled and pecked me on the lips. She turned and pulled me toward the door. We went inside and made our way to the living room.

"Hey, comrade! Would you like to-" Rose fell silent when she saw Tasha. "Oh – hi, Tasha."

Tasha gave her a smile, but I could see it was a fake one. If Rose noticed, she didn't show it. I didn't understand why Tasha was so hostile toward Rose. I thought she believed me there was nothing going on? Then why did she have to be so unfriendly to Rose?

Rose cleared her throat. "Well, I better go back to my room."

"You don't have to leave," I started, but Tasha nudged me.

"No, it's fine," Rose said smiling. "I don't want to interrupt anything. I'll see you in the morning."

"Have you had dinner yet?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, comrade. I grabbed a bite with Christian." After that she disappeared to the guestroom.

I turned to Tasha. "What was that for?"

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

I glared at her. "You know what I mean! You should be nicer to her. She's done nothing wrong."

"Fine. I'll be nicer," she grumbled.

I arched an eyebrow. "Do you mean it?"

Tasha sighed. "Yes, but you have to understand, Dimka… It's hard for me to see her here in your home. I mean, she's always been a good friend of yours…"

"I thought you just said that you believed me when I said she's just a friend? Or was it a lie?"

"No," she said quickly. "Of course not."

"You don't have to be jealous, Tasha. There's no reason to feel that way."

"Okay. Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's fine," I said, waving it away.

Tasha stayed for dinner and after that we watched a movie. I wasn't really paying attention. My mind had wandered to Rose once again. I wondered what she had wanted to say before she'd noticed Tasha beside me.

The rest of the evening Rose stayed in her room. I'd asked her if she wanted to join us, but she'd declined. Again, I wondered what was going on with her. When I asked her this morning if she was okay, she insisted she was fine. I knew she was lying, because why would she cry if she was alright? She told me she trusted me, but apparently not enough to tell me the truth. Had this three years apart changed our relationship so much? Yes. Of course it had. Right before she'd left, we'd confessed our feelings for each other and now…now I was engaged to another woman. Back then I would have never thought I would be with any other woman than Roza. I'd thought that when she'd return, I would be with her. I'd often dreamed about how it would be if we were together. And I had to admit that sometimes I still thought about how my life would be if I was with Roza instead of Tasha. I'd always thought that if I was going to marry someone, it would be Roza. But that was until she'd shattered my heart in pieces.

"Dimka!"

I blinked and looked down at Tasha. "Wh-what?" I asked.

She frowned. "I've been calling your name for the past two minutes. What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing," I lied smoothly. "I'm just tired, I guess."

"Well, the movie ended five minutes ago. Have you seen the ending?"

"No, but that's fine." I didn't really care about the movie.

"Are you okay?" Tasha asked. "You look tense."

"I'm fine," I answered. "Like I said, I'm just tired."

Slowly, a smile crept onto her face. "You want me to help you relax?"

She leaned toward me and her lips pressed against mine. Her hands moved down and under my shirt. I knew where she was going with this and I was absolutely not in the mood. Besides, Rose was here. I couldn't have sex with Tasha when she was here.

I pulled away from the kiss. "Tasha, I-"

She didn't let me finish and kissed me again. Her hands tugged at the hem of my shirt and she tried to pull it over my head.

"Tasha, I don't think it's a good idea to have sex here," I said.

"Oh, right! Rose could come in," she said in understanding. "We can go to your bedroom, then."

I sighed. "I don't think-"

It had no use. Her lips pressed against mine again and slowly, she pushed me down on the couch. Oh, what the hell. I was in my own house and Rose was probably not going to come out of her room anyway. We kept kissing and kissing, but her kisses didn't do anything to me. I didn't feel anything. Normally I wouldn't think much of it, but at this moment I couldn't help but compare her kisses to the ones I'd had with Rose. Her kisses were nothing like the kisses I'd shared with Rose when I'd made love to her three years ago. I didn't feel a spark when Tasha's lips touched mine. Instead I felt…nothing. Was that normal? Rose didn't even need to kiss me to cause that spark between us. Wait – why was I thinking about Rose when I was kissing Tasha? Damn it. I really needed to stop doing that.

But I couldn't help it. Everything I did reminded me of Rose, of how it was better with Rose. I'd had sex with Tasha a lot of times, but it had never felt as good, as right as with Roza. What was wrong with me? Why did I keep thinking about what I'd had and what I could have had with Roza? I'd lost her a long time ago and I would never get her back. Why was I still living in the past? Maybe my mother was right when she said that now Rose was back that might stir up old feelings or maybe…maybe they'd never left.

"Tasha, stop," I said, pushing her away.

"What? Why?" she asked pouting.

I thought it was cute when Roza pouted, but not when Tasha did it. _Now you're doing it again. You're comparing Tasha again to Rose._

"I…can't right now," I said. "I'm tired."

"Too tired to have some fun with me?" she said, smiling seductively.

I tried not to make a face. "Yes. I didn't sleep very well last night and I would really like to just go to bed. To sleep," I added.

She sighed. "Okay. I'll let you sleep then."

"Thanks," I said. I moved away from her as fast as I could. For some reason I didn't want her to touch me right now. "I have to get up early so maybe it's better if you just go home. Otherwise I'll probably wake you up and I know you don't like that."

She smiled. "You know me so well."

I forced a smile. "I know."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then. Make sure you sleep well tonight so we can continue this tomorrow," she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"I will," I said, already trying to make up another excuse for tomorrow night.

"Good night, Dimka." She kissed me and I couldn't find it in me to respond to the kiss. What the hell was wrong with me? "I love you."

"You too."

I couldn't even tell her anymore that I loved her. I should do some serious thinking tomorrow about my relationship with her if I even couldn't tell her those three simple words.

She finally left and I sighed in relief. I went to the bathroom and took a quick, cold shower. I really needed to figure out what I wanted. Rose had only been here for two days and I was already confused about my feelings for her. I was even starting to doubt if I truly loved Tasha.

I walked toward my bedroom and then I heard it again. I stopped at Roza's door and listened carefully, hoping that I hadn't heard it right. But I had. She was crying. Again. I put my hand on the door and contemplated on going in, demanding what was wrong with her. I didn't care if she was going to start throwing things at me. I just wanted to know what was wrong with her. I wanted to hold and comfort her. Tell her that everything was going to be okay.

But I quickly dismissed the thought. I should give her time. Maybe she'd come to me eventually and tell me what was wrong. I really hoped so, because it killed me not being able to help her. All I wanted was for her to be happy. Sighing, I turned away from the door and went to my bedroom.

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**So, how was this chapter? I hope you weren't too disappointed when it was Christian who showed up. I just wanted him in this story because I love him (but not as much as Dimitri of course!). **

**Please leave me a review :) **


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you for all the amazing reviews! It makes me happy you like this story! So here's the next chapter and I think you're all going to like it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy. It belongs to the wonderful Richelle Mead (but I wish Dimitri belonged to me, lol).**

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**CHAPTER 5**

**RPOV**

I was kind of surprised when Tasha had showed up with Dimitri. I shouldn't have been, though. They were engaged. Of course Tasha would spend time at his place. I hadn't wanted to stay and quickly went to my bedroom. Dimitri had asked if I wanted to watch a movie with them, but the last thing I wanted to see was Tasha cozying up to Dimitri's side. So, I went back to my room and stayed there for the rest of the night.

I undressed and pulled on my favorite sleep shirt. It was actually Dimitri's old shirt. It had gotten too small for him and then I'd taken it out of his room before I left Baia. The hem came just above my knees. There was Russian Cyrillic writing on it, but I had no idea what it said. I used to sleep in it all the time in Montana, because it smelled like Dimitri. It had comforted me when I missed him and when I'd closed my eyes it had almost been like he was really there with me. Too bad that his glorious scent on his shirt was long gone now.

As I lay in bed, I tried not to picture what they might be doing right now or what they might do after the movie. Ugh. I hated this. How was I going to live here? I would see Dimitri every day with Tasha. Every fucking day. I knew I needed to stop moping over Dimitri and move on, but I just couldn't. And seeing him every day wouldn't make it any easier.

Maybe I should just move back to Montana. It would be easier to get over him. I wouldn't have to see him every day with Tasha. But I knew I couldn't do that. Lissa had already bought my old house and I couldn't abandon her here. I would stay and move on. I would live my own life and forget about Dimitri. I mean, I'm Rose Hathaway. Hathaway's don't mope over guys. They don't dwell on the past. They are strong. For once, I wanted to be like my mom. She hadn't cried over my dad when he'd left us. I didn't know that for sure, though, because I hadn't even been born when he had left my mom. But she survived it and so would I. I would stop thinking about the past.

The only problem was that I couldn't just forget about Dimitri, because…well, he was Dimitri. My best friend. The love of my life. How could I forget about the most important person in my life? How could I let him go? _Well, you're going to have to, because he's marrying another woman. You have to let him go. _

I let out a sigh and flicked the lights off, hoping that this night I would catch some sleep.

**DPOV**

As I waited for Rose to get up, I prepared breakfast. She would probably be starving when she got up. I hoped she would tell me today what was going on with her. There must be a reason she was crying every night. The Rose I knew almost never cried and if she did, it was about something really serious. I wondered if she was in some kind of trouble.

"Morning, comrade."

I looked up and smiled. "Good morning, Roza."

She sat down, but didn't eat anything.

"Aren't you hungry?" I asked frowning.

She shrugged. "Not so much."

"You should eat something, though," I said.

She looked at the food in front of her and bit her lip. A distant look came across her face and she suddenly seemed to be somewhere else. I wanted to say something, but then she blinked and mumbled, "Yeah, I should…"

I couldn't help but think there was something seriously wrong with her. Not only because of the look that had crossed her face, but also because Rose never skipped breakfast – what was I saying, she never skipped any meal. She was always hungry. And now she looked like she was forcing herself to eat something. Weird.

"You want some coffee?" I asked, standing up.

"Yes, but don't get up. I'll get it myself. You've already done enough."

"It's no problem, Roza," I said, but she was already up and that's when I noticed. "Is that my shirt?"

She flushed. "Oh, um…yeah. I took it to Montana. Figured you wouldn't need it anymore since it didn't fit you anymore. I like to sleep in it." She gave me an apologetic shrug. "Do you mind?"

"N-no," I stammered as I tried not to stare at her beautiful legs. _Not at all._ I had to admit, it looked sexy on her. _Don't think about her like that_, I chastised myself. But it didn't help. I kept staring at her – her legs in particular. Even in the morning, when her hair was tousled and her eyes were sleepy, she was still beautiful and incredibly sexy.

"See something you like?" she smirked as she caught me looking.

I turned bright red and quickly averted my eyes. This situation reminded me a lot of something that happened a couple of years ago. It had been similar to this and she'd used the same words back then.

_I was waiting impatiently for Rose to get ready. We were supposed to be on the party already, but it was taking Rose ages to get ready. Sighing, I leaned against the wall and waited for her to open that goddamned door. _

"_Hurry up, Rose!" I said, probably for the third time. _

"_Just a sec!" Rose called through the door._

"_That's what you said ten minutes ago," I muttered._

_Suddenly, I felt something vibrate in my pocket. I took the phone out and then noticed it wasn't mine. I frowned. When and why had Rose put her phone in my pocket? I saw that the caller ID was her mom. It was never a good idea to ignore Janine Hathaway so I knocked on the door and opened it._

"_Rose, your mom is-"_

_I forgot what I was saying when I looked at her. I'd hoped she would be dressed by now, but there she stood in her black lacy bra and matching panties. I couldn't help but stare at her. She was only fourteen, but she already had curves in all the right places. She looked really good in that underwear, no wait…that's not the right word. She looked…sexy. _

"_See something you like, comrade?" she said, flashing a smile. _

_I blinked, trying to remember what I'd been saying before I'd been mesmerized by her beauty. "I…um…your mom is calling." _

_I handed her the phone and darted out of the room without saying another word, embarrassed that she'd caught me looking at her. _

Yep. This was equally embarrassing. I was relieved when she sat down again and I couldn't gape at her legs anymore.

"So…how are you feeling today?" I asked, trying to appear casually. She gave me a funny look. "What?"

"You keep asking me how I'm feeling," she answered. "Instead of working at the dojo, you should've become a shrink if you wanted to know how everyone's feeling."

I sighed. "I just want to know how you are. If you're okay."

She smiled. "Don't worry, comrade. I'm fine."

I guess that means she wasn't going to tell me what's wrong with her. I suppressed a sigh and got up. "I have to go to work. You going to be okay?"

"Sure," she said. "I'm going to spend some time with Viktoria. We haven't really had a chance to talk yet."

"Okay, have fun," I said.

"You too."

Before I left for work, I went to say hi to my family. When I got there, Karolina and Sonya had already left for work. Viktoria and Zoya were still sleeping and Paul was playing outside.

"So how are things going with Rose?" Mama asked me as I sat down at the kitchen table.

I shrugged. "Fine."

Mama looked at me and frowned. "It doesn't sound like that."

I sighed. "I don't know," I said, running a hand through my hair. "I'm glad that she's back. I really am. But I think something is wrong with her. She won't tell me what, though."

"Maybe she just needs to adjust again," Mama suggested. "It's been a long time since she's been here."

"It's not that," I said. "She… I heard her cry in her room – and it wasn't just one time. Something's wrong with her, but every time I ask if she's okay, she says she's fine. She won't tell me what's going on."

"Maybe you should give her time."

"Yeah, maybe… but I can't just stand there and watch when I know something is wrong with her. I want to help her, but she won't let me. She…she doesn't trust me anymore."

"Oh, honey," she said gently. "You know that's not true. She trusts you. Don't doubt that."

"I don't know if she does…" I said sadly. I glanced at my watch and stood up. "I've got to go to the dojo." I walked over to her and kissed her cheek. "We'll talk later."

Just as I wanted to open the front door and leave, my grandmother entered the hall.

"You know what you must do."

I frowned. "If you mean that I should go to work-"

"No, that's not what I mean," she interrupted, "and you know it."

I honestly didn't have a clue what she was talking about. This was not the first time that happened, though. My grandmother liked to be vague and give clues, but she never told what she knew. "I don't know what I have to do," I said.

"Then think harder."

I sighed. "I don't have time for this. I have to go to work."

She shook her head in exasperation. "You're too stubborn to see it."

"See what?" I asked. I was getting irritated.

"Don't make the wrong decision," she said. After that she shuffled away toward the kitchen.

_What decision did I have to make? _

I pushed the thought away and instead, I focused on my job. Tasha called me during lunch, asking if I could come over tonight. I told her I wasn't feeling very well and that I'd rather stay home. She then suggested to come to my place, but I quickly said that it was better to stay away from me until I was better. I knew I shouldn't lie to her, but I was still figuring out if I was doing the right thing by marrying her. Maybe we were going too fast. Maybe I should've waited longer, but she'd given me hints and I'd known it would make her happy so I'd proposed to her. Now I thought of it, I should have waited a little longer. We were still young and we've been together for only one year. Or was I overthinking this because Rose was back in town?

Before Rose had come back, everything had been fine. Okay, I had to admit, I still thought a lot about her even though I was with Tasha. But now Rose was back and I was constantly thinking about her, thinking about that one last perfect night…

I'd even had a fight with Tasha about Rose and I'd never fought with Tasha before. Tasha could be bossy and demanding sometimes. Even though I hated it, I never cared enough to tell her she couldn't boss me around. I just did what she wanted me to do to stop the whining. But when she'd started saying bad things about Rose… Yeah, that had made me pretty mad. I tolerated a lot from Tasha, but denigrating Rose was something I didn't want to tolerate.

And then last night I hadn't been able to have sex with Tasha because I'd been thinking about Rose again and how thinking about her had made kissing Tasha feel so wrong. At this point I couldn't even tell Tasha anymore that I loved her. What was wrong with me? I was going to marry her, but I couldn't even say that I loved her.

"Hey, comrade!"

I almost jumped ten feet in the air when I heard her voice. Startled, I turned around to see Rose.

"Am I interrupting?" she asked.

I glanced at my watch and saw that it was already past four. I was done for today. "No, you're not interrupting. But what are you doing here? I thought you were going to hang out with Vika?"

"Yeah, we hung out this afternoon," she said smiling. "But she's meeting Nikolai now." She looked around the room and said, "So this is where you teach people how to fight?"

"I teach them how to defend themselves, not how to start a fight, Roza," I said.

She grinned. "That's almost the same."

I rolled my eyes.

"So are you going to show me some moves?"

I raised my eyebrow. "You want to learn how to defend yourself?"

"Nah, I don't need that. I've got you to defend me," she said jokingly. It was true, though, even if she was just joking. I would always defend and protect her. I wouldn't let anything happen to her. "But it doesn't hurt to know some moves."

"Fine. Come on over here, then."

She grinned again and skipped toward me. "Will you teach me how to kick a guy in the nuts?" she asked cheerfully.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," I said, "and if I remember correctly, you already know how to do that."

"Yeah, but Jesse isn't a real guy. He was already screaming when I hadn't even touched him yet."

That was true. Nonetheless, I wasn't going to teach her how to kick a man in their private parts for fear she would turn against me one day and then she'd do it to me. And I knew she could do it. Roza was pretty strong for someone her size.

"Let's just stick with the basics, okay? And no kicking in the sensitive area," I added warningly.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, comrade."

It was easy to teach Rose. She was a fast learner, but I was still stronger and faster than her. I could block her punches and kicks easily, which I could see was frustrating her. One time, though, she almost managed to tackle me to the ground, but that was probably because I'd been distracted by her beautiful eyes. I was kind of glad that she wanted to learn this. You never knew what could happen when you were alone on the streets at night and then it was best if you could defend yourself to keep attackers away.

"It's so unfair," Rose whined. "You're way bigger than me and much stronger."

"My height could work in your advantage," I countered.

"Yeah, but you're still stronger than me," she pouted.

I grinned and turned around to get my stuff so we could leave. I'd only taken a few steps to the door before Rose tried to attack me – emphasize on tried. I swiftly spun around before she could strike out. Grabbing her, I tackled her to the ground and pinned her there.

"What the hell? How did you see me coming?" Rose exclaimed, clearly frustrated.

I couldn't help but smile. "I didn't see you coming. I heard you coming. You should be more quiet if you want to attack someone. So no yelling the next time you're trying to sneak up on me."

She frowned. "Damn. And what if I'd been more quiet? Would you have known that I was coming for you?"

"Probably," I said, still smiling. "I knew you were planning something."

"How would you know?" she asked.

"Because I know you."

She sighed. "Damn. This sucks."

I chuckled. "You'll get better when you practise some more."

"Does that mean you'll give me another lesson?" she asked, hope shining in her eyes.

"Sure. If that's what you want."

She grinned. "Awesome."

Her smile lit up her whole face and my heart leapt. God, she was so beautiful. It was then that I noticed I was still holding her down. My body pressed against hers and my hands were still gripping her wrists. Her face was just inches away from mine. It would be very easy to kiss her… _No, don't think about that! _

I knew I should get up, but I couldn't find the strength to do it. I just wanted to lay down beside her and wrap her in my arms. I didn't want to ever let go of her. And oh, those lips… I wanted to kiss them so badly. As I stared into her beautiful eyes, my heart rate increased and my breathing became heavy. I noticed that she was staring at me too. I swallowed heavily and glanced down at her lips again. They were so close… _Get up! Get up before she notices what you're doing! Don't ruin your friendship. That's all that you are to her. A friend. Don't ruin it by kissing her. _

With great reluctance, I shifted off her and rose to my feet. I helped her up and let go as soon as she was on her feet. Quickly, I turned away from her and went to get my stuff. I didn't want to get tempted again to kiss her.

"So how was your day with Viktoria?" I asked to shake the awkwardness as we left the dojo and walked toward my car.

"It was fun. We went to-"

Rose suddenly stopped talking and stared at something. I followed her gaze and my eyes went wide. Oh no. This couldn't be good.

"Dimka, how are you feeling? Are you okay?" Tasha asked as she walked toward us. She tried to put her hand against my forehead, but I pushed her away.

"I'm fine. I'm just not feeling so well." I cleared my throat. "I thought I told you it was better if you didn't come down here."

"I know, but I just wanted to check up on you," she answered. Then she looked over at Rose. "What is she doing here?" she asked, her voice suddenly cold.

"Rose wants to learn how to defend herself," I said, glaring at her.

"Sure, if that's what you want to believe," Tasha muttered under her breath.

"Um, I should get going," Rose said, glancing up at me. "I'll see you later."

"No, Roza, you don't-"

But she was already gone.

I sighed and turned to Tasha again. "What the hell was that?"

"What was she doing here?"

"I just said that-"

"She can see you, but I can't?" she exclaimed, outraged.

"I didn't know she was coming!" I said agitated. "I would've send her away, but she was here as a client."

That wasn't entirely true. She'd just come by to see where I was working and I'd showed her some moves. It wasn't until the end that I'd said she could come back to learn more. And if she was coming back, I was going to make sure _I_ was the one who would teach her. I didn't want another guy to touch her. And there would be touching. You couldn't fight without touching. So there was no way one of my co-workers was going to teach her how to defend herself. If someone was going to touch – I mean, teach her, it would be me. No one else. _Don't be so jealous. She's not your girlfriend. You can't think like this. _I really had to remind myself that _my _girlfriend was standing in front of me. My girlfriend who was starting to annoy me.

"That's bullshit!" Tasha yelled. "You still love her, don't you?"

"No! I-I don't. You know I…" I stammered_. Just say it. How hard can it be? Say the goddamned three words._ "You know how I feel about you." Oh God. Had I really said that? I was pathetic.

Tasha raised her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. She apparently thought the same. She looked furious and if I were her…yeah, I'd probably be too.

I sighed loudly. "Look, I just want to go home," I said, running a hand through my hair. "I don't feel well right now. I'll call you tomorrow and then we can talk."

"But-"

"I'll call you," I said before she could say anything else.

Without another word I got in my car and drove away. I knew I was being an asshole and that I wasn't treating her right, but I was so confused. How could I tell her I loved her if I didn't even know if that was the truth anymore? I really needed to sort things out.

I couldn't find Rose when I got home. I waited for her so we could have dinner together, but when she wasn't showing up, I got worried and called her. She didn't answer her phone. It could be possible she didn't have her phone with her right now, but I had a feeling she was ignoring me. I couldn't figure out why. Was it because of what happened at the dojo? Or was it because of Tasha's cold, unfriendly reaction?

I called again and again, but she didn't answer my calls. I texted her, telling her I was worried and asking when she'd be back. No answer. When it was getting dark, I was tempted to go out and look for her, but just as I was about to leave, she finally came in.

I immediately rushed to her side and pulled her in my arms. "Oh thank God, you're back! I was so worried about you, Roza." I took a step back to look at her. "Why didn't you call me back?"

She looked at me, surprised. "I forgot my phone. Sorry."

"Don't ever do that to me again, Roza," I growled. "I was so worried!"

She laughed, but it sounded off to me. "Relax, comrade. I'm fine."

"Where were you?"

She shrugged. "Just hanging out with Christian. That's all."

Oh. Christian! How could I've forgotten about him? I hadn't thought she would be with him. Stupid. Suddenly, I wondered if there was something going on between them. They were good friends, but what was she doing with him this late at night? _You have no right to be jealous, Dimitri. She's free to date whoever she wants._ But it couldn't be, right? She didn't like him that way. They were just friends. Right?

Then I suddenly noticed that her eyes were rimmed in red.

"Roza, have you been crying?" I asked. How could I have overlooked this? The answer popped immediately in my head: it was because I was worrying that she might be into Christian.

She quickly averted her eyes. Ignoring my question, she said, "I'm going to bed now. I'm really tired. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Roza…" I said, but she didn't hear me – or she just chose to ignore me.

I stared after her and sighed when she disappeared into her room. Why was she so unhappy? She wasn't the cheery, optimistic girl anymore that I knew, that I loved and I was starting to worry that it was because of me. Otherwise she would've told me what was going on with her, right? But what could I've done to make her this unhappy?

I sighed again and went to take a shower. I tried to relax, but I was still thinking about what could possibly make Roza so sad. Maybe she told Christian. That's where she'd been before she came back. Maybe she'd gone to him to tell her problems and maybe he'd comforted her. That thought made me jealous. Before Roza had left Baia, _I_ had been the one who comforted her, who helped her whenever she needed it. I had always been there for her. She'd trusted me. Why didn't she anymore?

Before I went to my bedroom to try and get some sleep, I stopped at her door. Like I'd expected, she was crying. _Damn it, Rose! Why can't you tell me what's wrong? _I couldn't handle it anymore. I hated to see her so sad. It made me feel sad too. I wanted her to be happy again. I wanted my Roza back. I stood there listening at her door for five more minutes before I made my decision. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and went inside.

**RPOV**

I was startled when the door opened. I knew it was Dimitri and I quickly tried to stop the sobbing. Damn it. Why did he come inside? And without knocking! Didn't he know what privacy was? I hoped he hadn't heard me cry. I quickly tried to feign sleep.

The bed dipped a little as he sat down. I forgot that I was pretending to be asleep and my eyes shot open when he placed his hand on my shoulder. Of course he couldn't see that my eyes were open in the dark, but he surely had felt me move.

"Roza, I know that you're awake."

I sighed loudly. "What are you doing here, Dimitri?" He flicked the lights on and I quickly looked away from him. I didn't want him to see the tears on my face.

"What are you doing?" I exclaimed.

He ignored me and said softly, "Roza, what's going on with you? You've been crying every night since you got here."

"I haven't," I said, my voice trembling.

"You have," he countered. "I've heard it. And before you came home tonight, you've also cried. You can deny it all you want, but I saw it."

"N-no, that's not true."

He gave me a sympathetic look and a traitorous tear rolled down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away, but he'd already seen it.

"Roza…"

"I'm fine," I said.

"No, you're not. I know you're not fine."

And that's when I started crying all over again. I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. I tried to stop it, but I failed miserably. Of all the people who had to find me like this, it had to be him…the reason I was crying every night.

Suddenly, Dimitri slid under the covers and lay beside me. He pulled me close to him and wrapped his arms around me. I started sobbing in his chest – which was bare. The last time I'd seen his great abs were three years ago… the night we'd made love. _Don't think about that, Rose. It's only going to make you cry more._

I cried and cried and Dimitri held me all the while, whispering sweet nothings in my ear, telling me that everything was going to be alright. But how could it be alright when I loved him so much and he was marrying someone else?

When I was finally done with crying and I could no longer shed a tear, I took a deep, calming breath. Dimitri was still stroking my hair. It felt nice and calmed me down somehow.

"Why won't you tell me what is wrong with you?" he whispered. "Why don't you trust me, Roza?"

"I do trust you," I said as I looked up at him. It was true. I trusted him with my life. But this… I couldn't tell him this. I couldn't tell him I still loved him when he was about to marry Tasha. He would hate me forever if I did. He would think I was trying to wreck his relationship with Tasha.

"Then why won't you tell me what's wrong?" he asked, a pained look on his face. "It kills me to see you like this, Roza."

"I can't tell you," I said, wiping at my eyes again.

"Why not? I'm your best friend. You can tell me everything," he said, his voice soft. "You used to tell me everything."

"I know, but I just can't…It'll ruin everything," I whispered.

"Why do you think that?" he asked, frowning. "Nothing in the world will ever ruin what we have."

"And what is it that we have?" I asked. I bit my lip. I hadn't wanted to say that out loud, but it was too late now.

Dimitri hesitated, but then answered, "Friendship. Love." Love. I wished he loved me the way I loved him, and not just as a friend. "You're my best friend, Roza. I don't want to lose you. Not again."

I sniffled. "I'm sorry."

He leaned his forehead against mine and clasped my hand in his. "Please, Roza. Let me help you."

"You can't. No one can."

"You don't know that," Dimitri said. "I hate to see you like this and I hate it that I can't be here for you because you refuse to tell me what's going on."

I gave him a sad smile and brushed a strand of hair out of his face. "I know you want to be here for me and you _are_, Dimitri. You are and that's all I need right now."

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "You aren't going to tell me, huh? You're going to try and solve this on your own."

"Yes, Dimitri. I have to. This is _my_ problem. I have to deal with it."

"I'm just so worried about you, Roza. You have no idea."

"You don't have to be," I said softly.

"Please tell me that you'll be alright," he whispered. "Please tell me you'll be happy again."

"I will," I said. "Don't worry. I'll be alright."

He stroked my cheek with his fingers and looked up into my eyes. "You're not going to leave again, are you? You'll stay this time, right?"

I didn't think staying would be best if I wanted to get over him, but the desperate look in his eyes made me change my answer. I suddenly wondered why he wanted me to stay so badly. I mean, he had Tasha now. What did he need me for?

"I'm not going anywhere," I said at last. "I'm staying right here." Well, in Baia. Not in his house. I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. I didn't want to see him and Tasha here, cuddled up together on the couch.

Dimitri sighed in relief. "Good. You belong here. With me," he added softly.

My heart pounded in my chest as he said those last words. Why was he being so sweet to me? Why did he say those things? It only made it harder for me to get over him.

Slowly, he moved closer to me. Leaning in, his lips brushed against mine and I felt a jolt of electricity run through my whole body as his lips touched mine. They were just the way as I remembered. Warm and soft against my own. The kiss lasted mere seconds, but it had been so sweet and tender. His hand was still on my cheek as he pulled away. My heart rate increased even more as I looked into his chocolate brown eyes.

"You should get some sleep," he said softly. "I'll stay here with you."

I smiled and for the first time this night, it was genuine. His arms wrapped around my waist again as I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes. I felt him kiss my hair and he murmured, "Goodnight, Roza."

This was the first night since my return I slept peacefully.

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**Dimitri finally kissed Rose! Wasn't that nice? Next chapter there will be a cute Rose and Dimitri scene and someone new is going to arrive. **

**Please leave a review on your way out ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks again for taking time to read this story and thank you for reviewing! I hope you will all like this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy. **

* * *

**CHAPTER 6**

**RPOV**

When I woke up, Dimitri was still wrapped around me. His face was buried in the crook of my neck and his arm was draped around my waist. He was still asleep and looked very peaceful. I smiled and snuggled closer to him. He stirred, but didn't wake up. I sighed, wishing we could stay like this forever. Soon I drifted off to sleep again.

I woke again a couple of hours later, but this time Dimitri was no longer beside me. I felt sad about that and I wondered when he'd left. I thought again about last night, how he'd comforted me even though I wouldn't tell him the truth. And that kiss… Had it meant something? Did it mean he still had feelings for me? Or had he done it to comfort me?

It was probably the latter. He couldn't possibly have feelings for me anymore. He was in love with Tasha. I didn't get that, though. Thus far I'd only seen her being angry with Dimitri or complaining about something – except for when we met. That day she'd been all smiles to me, but now…by the way she looked at me whenever she saw me, she clearly didn't like me. And instead of being nice to Dimitri, all she could do was arguing with him. At least, that was what I'd been told and what I'd seen. Tasha didn't know how lucky she was to have Dimitri. In my opinion, he deserved much better.

I sighed and sat up. I didn't feel like doing anything and rather go back to sleep again. Then I wouldn't have to think about him. But before I could lie down again, the door opened and Dimitri walked in.

"Oh, you're awake," he said smiling. "Good."

"What's that?" I asked, eyeing the paper bag in his hands.

His smile grew. "Donuts."

I hadn't been really hungry, but now that he'd said he bought me donuts, my belly started grumbling. It had been a long time since I'd eaten a donut – three years, I think – but seeing that bag with donuts now, I suddenly longed for it. It took me everything in my power to not snatch the bag out of his hands. He sat down next to me on the bed and opened the bag.

"They're chocolate glazed," he said. "Your favorite."

"You remembered that?" I asked surprised.

"How could I ever forget that? I remember every little thing about you, Roza," he said softly, a small smile on his face.

I suddenly felt shy under his gaze and I averted my eyes. I cleared my throat and said, "Can you give them to me now? I'm hungry."

He laughed. "Not if you don't say the magic words."

I narrowed my eyes. "You can't keep my donuts away from me!"

"_Your_ donuts?" he said, arching one of his eyebrows. "Who says they're yours?"

"I say so!" I said. "Now give them to me!"

"No," he simply said as he and the bag moved away from me.

"Don't mess with me, Belikov," I growled. I wanted my donuts. Now. "If you want to live, you give me the bag now."

He grinned. "Oh, yeah, what are you going to do?"

"I will – hey, don't touch that!"

He'd taken a donut out of the bag and was about to take a bite. He stopped and looked over at me, an amused look on his face. "Again, what are you going to do if I take a bite?"

"You really don't want to find out what I'm capable of," I said warningly. I knew that the threat was lame, but that was all I could come up with. He knew I couldn't do anything to him because, let's face it, he was much stronger than me. The only thing I could do was watch how he would eat my precious donut. "I swear, Dimitri Belikov, that I will castrate you if you're going to eat my donut."

"I'm sure you will," he said smirking and then he took a bite.

"Goddamn it!" I exclaimed. "That's my donut!"

"Mmm, it's very good," Dimitri moaned. "You should try one too."

That did it. I jumped on him and reached for the bag, but he stretched his arm away from me so I couldn't take the bag from him.

"Give it to me!"

"Nah. You're not being nice to me. I think I'll keep them for myself."

I started pounding my fists on his chest and he started laughing. "Give. Me. The. Bag."

"No."

I cried out in frustration and he only laughed harder. Suddenly, he started tickling me with his free hand. I gasped out and tried to move away from him. He dropped the bag to the floor so he could use both hands to keep me in place.

"Stop it," I shrieked. "Stop tickling me!"

I did another attempt to get away from him, but he pushed me down on the bed. He put his knees on either side of my body and hovered over me. There was no way for me to escape.

"Please stop!" I begged. I squirmed around and tried to push him off me.

"You can't win, Roza," he said. "Give up and I'll stop."

"Never!" I gasped out.

"You're going to regret that you said that," Dimitri said grinning.

I laughed uncontrollably as he kept tickling me. "Okay! I give up! I give up!" I managed to say between breaths.

He stopped and I could finally relax. I closed my eyes for a moment, pretending I was exhausted. When I opened them again, I saw that Dimitri was smiling at me. I gave him a lazy smile and his smile grew wider. Slowly, he leaned closer.

"Roza-"

I had no idea what he'd wanted to say, but if I wanted to get free of him, I had to act now. I sat up and pushed him off me. He wasn't expecting me to attack so this time it was easier to shove him away. Before he could recover, I pinned him down.

Smirking I said, "I guess I won."

"That wasn't fair," he said, but he didn't do anything to push me away.

"You tickling me wasn't fair either," I countered.

"That's true," he admitted.

I grinned. "Now give me the donuts."

He suddenly sat up. His face was just inches away from mine. My heart leapt in my throat and I swallowed heavily. Why did I always react like this whenever he was so close to me? I hoped he hadn't seen how much his closeness affected me.

"Okay. I think you deserve them," he said, leaning over the bed to get the bag. "By the way, the magic words are 'please, Dimitri'."

"Can I have them now? _Please_, Dimitri," I added, rolling my eyes.

"That's better. Next time, don't roll your eyes at me."

"Whatever."

He narrowed his eyes at me, but then, finally, handed me the bag.

"Thanks," I said grinning. There were five donuts left and I greedily took a bite in the first one. Moaning, I said, "You're right. These are delicious." I couldn't believe I hadn't eaten this for over three years.

"I told you," he said, finishing his own donut. After I wolfed down four donuts, I gave him the last one. He raised his eyebrow. "You're giving it to me?"

"Yes," I said smiling.

"Is this some kind of trap?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "No, it's not a trap. I'm just giving it to you."

He eyed me suspiciously. "Why? Did you drool on it?"

I slapped his chest playfully and he grinned. "No, of course not! I just want you to have it. You went out to get them for me, which was very sweet of you. I also want to thank you for being here for me last night. You're the best friend ever. So I'm making this huge sacrifice to thank you for everything you've done for me since I'm back."

Honestly, it wasn't such a huge sacrifice because I actually couldn't eat another one. I couldn't eat anymore as much as I used to when I was younger. I was not going to admit to Dimitri, though, that I couldn't finish the donut anymore. And he actually did deserve it. Even though he almost tickled me to death, he deserved my donut. After all that he'd done for me, this was the least I could do for him. Besides, he'd only had one donut so it was fair if he got another one.

"It must hurt a lot to give up your donut," he said smirking, taking the donut from me.

"I don't like this attitude. Maybe I should take it back," I said.

"No, no. You don't have to," he said quickly, taking a bite.

"Then shut up and eat your donut," I said.

He grinned and took another bite. "Thank you," he said sincerely. I knew he wasn't just thanking me for the donut, but for what I'd said. "And…I'll always be here for you, Roza. You know that."

"I do. Thank you," I said smiling.

"You're welcome, Roza." A silence fell as he ate the rest of the donut. "You want the last bite?" he asked.

"No, I gave it to you."

He grinned. "I know you want to."

I glared at him. "No, I don't."

"Yes, you do. I can see it in your eyes."

Well…it wouldn't hurt to eat the last piece, right? Before he could say anything else, I grabbed the last piece out of his hand and stuffed it in my mouth. "I ate it. Are you happy now?"

He nodded and smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "Very happy."

We fell silent once again and I looked down at my hands. I wanted to ask him why he'd kissed me last night. I wanted to know if it had meant something to him and if it had…did that mean he wasn't sure if he wanted to marry Tasha?

Dimitri moved closer to me. He put his fingers under my chin and tilted my head up so I was looking into his eyes. "What are you thinking about?"

I shrugged and tried to appear casual, but my heart was beating rapidly in my chest. He was so close I could smell his aftershave and it was delicious. "It's not important."

"Roza…" he warned. "I can see something is bothering you."

I sighed, finally deciding I should just ask him. "Why did you-"

I was interrupted when my phone started ringing loudly. I turned away from Dimitri and took my phone from the nightstand. I saw that the caller ID was Lissa. I'd better take this call. I hadn't talked to her since the day I'd arrived. She was probably worried sick.

"Hey, Liss," I said.

"Finally!" she said. "I would've been so mad at you if you hadn't picked up your phone right now!"

"Why?" I asked frowning.

"Because I'm in Baia and-"

"What?" I exclaimed.

"The taxi driver dropped me off at the address of your best friend's house," she continued as if I hadn't interrupted her. "But I'm not sure if it is here and I don't know where you are. Are you with him?"

"Yes, I'm with Dimitri," I said. Dimitri glanced over at me, a curious look on his face. "I mean, I'm at his place," I corrected. I didn't want her to think I was _with_ Dimitri.

"Oh, good!"

"Why are you so early? I thought you weren't going to be here until next week?" I asked.

"Instead of talking over the phone, why don't you come outside so we can talk in person?" she said chuckling.

"Yeah, that's probably a better idea. I'll be right there." I disconnected and got up, very well aware I was still in my sleep shirt. Well, there wasn't time to change into clothes right now.

Dimitri got up too and asked, "What's going on?"

"Lissa is here," I answered.

"In Baia?"

"Yeah. On your doorstep," I said before leaving my room.

I walked to the front door and opened it. Lissa stood on the sidewalk with her luggage. "Hey, Liss!" I said as I walked toward her.

"Rose!" She hugged me. "Why haven't you called me back this week? Oh, well, it doesn't matter. I'm here now."

"Yeah, and where is the rest of our stuff?" I asked as I looked at her suitcase. It was large, but I was sure this couldn't be everything.

"They'll ship the rest of our stuff next week," she said. "When we move into your old house."

"Oh, okay."

"So tell me – oh, is that him?" I looked over my shoulder and saw that Dimitri was walking toward us. "Wow. I thought he was hot on the pictures you showed me, but in real life he is even hotter."

"Shh!" I hissed.

Dimitri smiled at Lissa and said, "Hi."

I cleared my throat. "Dimitri, this is Lissa, my friend from Montana. Liss, this is Dimitri, my-"

"So you're Rose's secret Russian lov-"

I nudged her. She looked at me, a confused look on her face. I glared at her and gave her a slight shake of my head. Finally, understanding dawned on her face.

"I'm what?" Dimitri said.

Lissa laughed nervously. "Rose's secret Russian best friend," she said. Dimitri didn't look like he bought it. He knew that wasn't what she'd wanted to say. "It's so nice to meet you!" she continued, sticking out her hand.

Dimitri decided to let it go and as he shook her hand, he said smiling, "You too." Then he turned to me. "I have to leave now, but I'll see you tonight, Roza."

I nodded. "Bye, comrade."

"Bye, Lissa," Dimitri said before walking to his car and driving away.

Lissa immediately turned to me. "What was that? Aren't you guys back together?"

I sighed. "It's a long story."

"No problem. I have time."

"Okay, I'll tell you everything," I said as we went inside.

**DPOV**

I didn't want to go home yet after work. I didn't want to face Roza yet. No, that wasn't true. I was actually dying to see her, but then I'd have to explain why I'd kissed her last night. Before Lissa had interrupted us, she had wanted to ask me why I'd kissed her. I just knew it. And that was a question I didn't know how to answer, which is why I was kind of glad that Lissa had suddenly called. Deep down I knew why I'd kissed her. I just didn't want to admit it to myself, for fear I was going to get hurt again if she left. Again. I didn't think I would live through it a second time.

But I knew I couldn't keep going on like this. I had to make a decision. I knew being with Tasha was the safe – and slightly boring – option. I knew she loved me even though she was mad at me most of the time. But I wasn't even sure anymore if I loved her – if I ever had. Every time I saw Roza, my heart skipped a beat. I felt warm all over my body when she smiled at me. She made my knees go weak. I'd never felt that way with Tasha.

But, on the other hand, being with Roza… It was risky. What if she left again? What if she wanted to go back to America? Was it a risk I was willing to take? I didn't even know if she still loved me. For all I know, she'd wanted to tell me earlier that she didn't want me to kiss her ever again. It'd kill me if she'd say that, because that was all I wanted to do. I couldn't control myself around her. I'd tried and failed. I'd kissed her and stayed with her all night. And to be honest, it was the best night I'd had in months – even years. But could I risk my heart again for her? The last time she'd left, it had taken me months to heal. How much time would it take the next time she left?

I was unsure of what to do and I was so confused about my feelings. And what about Tasha? I couldn't just blow off the wedding and tell her I didn't want to be with her anymore. She would be devastated – and very, very pissed. But what if it was true that I didn't love her? Could I stay with her the rest of my life when I yearned for someone else? Could I be just friends with Rose when I wanted something more?

I knew Tasha wanted to see me right now. She'd called me numerous of times, but I'd ignored her calls. I couldn't see her until I'd made my decision. Instead of going home, I went to the only other place I felt home. I knew now what my grandmother had meant about the decision I had to make. I had to choose between Roza and Tasha. I didn't know what to do so I went to my mother for advice.

"What's wrong, Dimitri?" she asked immediately as I entered the kitchen.

"I need your help," I said as I slumped down on a chair.

She sat down beside me, her face worried. "What happened, honey?"

"Nothing," I said. "I'm just so confused."

"About what?" she questioned.

I sighed. "You were right, Mama. You were right about Roza. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Calm down and start from the beginning," she said gently.

I took a deep breath and started talking. I told her I was doubting if I should go on with the wedding because I was starting to realize that I didn't truly love Tasha. If I had, I would have forgotten about Rose, but instead I've been thinking about her for years and what it would be like if we were together. I'd never been able to let her go. I told her that now Rose was back all these old feelings I'd pushed away were coming back. I also told her I'd kissed Rose last night, which earned me a disapproving look. I knew my mother wouldn't be angry if I canceled the wedding, but kissing another woman when I was in a relationship… No, she didn't like that. At all.

"I'm sorry," I said, "but it just happened. I know that doesn't make it okay, but…" I groaned and let my head fall in my hands. "I'm a disaster."

"No, you're not," she said. "You're just confused."

"What should I do?" I asked desperately. "I can't just tell Tasha I can't go through with the wedding. It will crush her."

"But what about Rose then? Are you going to keep pretending like she's just your friend?"

I sighed. "What else am I going to do? I don't even know if she still has feelings for me at all."

"That's why you need to talk to her," Mama said.

"And then what? She tells me she doesn't love me and then goes right back to America. I can't go through that again."

"She won't go back to America."

"How do you know?"

"I just know," she said fiercely. "I believe that she'll stay."

I stared at the table. What was I going to do? I knew one thing, though, and that was that I couldn't even think of being with Rose if she didn't tell me why she broke contact with me three years ago. I needed to know the truth. I also knew that I had to break up with Tasha. I'd made myself believe I loved her this past year. I realized now that wasn't true. My heart had always belonged to Roza. I'd just never wanted to admit to myself. I'd told myself over and over again that I was over her. But I wasn't. And now she was back, I'd finally realized it.

"Follow your heart," Mama said.

I nodded and got up. "Thanks, Mama. I should go and talk to Roza now."

"Good," she said smiling, "and honey?"

I was almost at the door, but I turned around to face her. "Yes?"

"No matter what you choose, I'll always support you."

I smiled. "Thank you."

After that I sprinted out of the house and to my car. I couldn't wait to get home. I really needed the truth and this time I wasn't going to take no for an answer.

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**So, did you like it? Was there enough RxD? And Lissa arrived. Do you think she'll be able to help? Also, Dimitri finally realized Tasha isn't the one for him. That was about time, huh? **

**Please leave a review and tell me if you liked this chapter :)**

**I'll try to update asap. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi there! Thank you all so much for the reviews. You guys are amazing. We're almost at the end of this story, but don't worry, there will be a few more chapters and I'll keep writing other stories about Rose and Dimitri. **

**Enjoy this chapter ;)**

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**CHAPTER 7**

**RPOV**

"I'm so sorry, Rose," Lissa said as she hugged me. Pulling back, she gave me a sympathetic look. "What are you going to do now?"

I'd told her everything about what had happened with Dimitri since my return. When I'd met her in boarding school in Montana, I'd told her about Dimitri and that when I'd be eighteen I would go back for him. Every time I'd felt sad because I missed him, she'd been there for me. And now I wasn't the only one who was disappointed that Dimitri was going to marry someone else. Lissa had also been hoping I'd get back together with Dimitri. Even though she just met him an hour ago, she knew a lot about him. She believed Dimitri and I were meant to be. I'd believed that too. Until I found out he was marrying Tasha.

"What can I do? He's marrying Tasha," I said sadly.

"But he kissed you!" Lissa exclaimed.

"It was just one kiss and it probably was to comfort me," I said. "It didn't mean anything to him."

"You don't know that if you don't ask him. I don't think he'd kiss you without a reason. From all the things you told me about him, he doesn't seem like a person who'd do that."

I sighed. I didn't know what to think anymore.

"And why didn't you just tell him the truth?" Lissa asked. "Then he would've known you never stopped loving him."

"That doesn't matter. Besides, it's only going to ruin our friendship. He's about to marry Tasha. I'm sure he doesn't want to hear I'm still in love with him. It's only going to upset him."

"Or maybe it'll make him the happiest man alive," Lissa countered.

I snorted. "And why would that be?"

"Um, I don't know…because he still loves you, silly!"

"Yeah right," I said, rolling my eyes. "Dream on."

"I'm serious, Rose. Didn't you see the way he looked at you when we were outside?" she asked. I shook my head. "Well, you should've seen it. And that smile on his face when he looked at you! He's so in love with you."

"I don't know," I mumbled.

"You really should talk to him," Lissa said earnestly, "and tell him the truth. Not just that you love him. But tell him why you stopped calling him. You owe him an explanation."

"I know, but I'm scared he's going to be angry with me if I do."

"You have to try, Rose. If you want him back, you have to tell him the truth."

I sighed. "I know. I'll talk to him tonight."

Lissa smiled and hugged me again. "You can do it, Rose. It'll be alright."

"Thanks, Liss," I said sincerely. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me too." She smiled, but then it faded again. "How are you feeling...you know, about all this? Are you okay? You're not-"

"Don't worry, Liss," I said. "I'm okay. I'm not going to relapse because…because I'm having a hard time again."

"Okay," she said, "but if you feel bad and you want to talk or if you need to tell me something, let me know. I'm right here. Just as last time."

I gave her a small smile. "I know, Liss. Thank you."

After that, we chatted about random things. I was glad she didn't bring up _that _time again. After a couple of hours, she sighed and started to get up. "Well, I should go find a hotel."

"But-"

"No, I'm not staying here. Besides, you and Dimitri need your privacy." She wiggled her eyebrows and I nudged her playfully. "It's just for a couple of nights. Until we can move into your old house. It's fine, Rose," she quickly added when I wanted to protest. "I'll manage."

"Okay," I said reluctantly.

Startled, we both looked up when the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" I muttered as I went to open the door.

"Hello, Rosie," Christian said smirking.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course it'd be you."

"Who else would want to visit you?" he said as I took a step back so he could come in.

"Ha ha," I said sarcastically. "What are you doing here?"

His face grew serious, concern filling his pale blue eyes. "I wanted to see how you're doing."

"I'm okay," I said quietly. "Thanks again, Christian, for being there for me."

He gave me a small smile. "You're welcome, Rose. I know how hard this must be for you."

I nodded and walked back to the kitchen where Lissa was waiting. Christian followed me.

"So what are you-" He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Lissa sitting at the kitchen table.

"Christian, this is Lissa, my friend from Montana," I introduced them. "Lissa, this is Christian, my annoying friend who lives a couple of streets away."

It stayed quiet and I looked over at Christian. He blinked and opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again. Weird. This must be the first time Christian was rendered speechless. I looked over at Lissa, hoping she'd say something, but she was too busy with gaping at Christian. _Oh lord. Talk about love on first sight. _

I cleared my throat. "Guys?"

Christian was the first one to snap out of whatever weird thing that was going on between them. "Hi," he said, giving her a charming smile as he shook her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Lissa blushed. "You too."

"So…you're moving here too? With Rose?" Christian asked.

She nodded. "Yes. I wanted to start over and this place is as good as any."

"Well, I'm sure it's going to be even better now you're here," Christian said, still smiling.

Lissa giggled.

Oh my God. What was happening? I stared at my friends, shocked. Christian had never showed any interest in girls before – and neither had they showed any interest in him. But he and Lissa were making conversation like they'd been friends for years and it was like I wasn't even here. Sighing, I went back to my room. When I came back an hour later, they were still talking. They hadn't even noticed I'd been gone for the past hour.

Clearing my throat, I said, "Hey, guys. Guys!" They finally shut up and looked at me. "Finally," I muttered.

"What's the matter?" Christian asked.

"I thought you needed to go find a hotel for the night?" I asked, turning to Lissa.

"Oh, yeah…you're right," Lissa said, glancing at the clock. "I should be going."

"You need some help with your luggage?" Christian asked, getting up. "I know a hotel you could go to. It's not far from here, actually. I can drive you if you like."

Lissa's face lit up. "That'd be great." She turned to hug me and whispered in my ear, "Oh my God, he's so cute!" I strongly disagreed with that. It took me a lot to not look disgusted. "Is he single?"

Christian might be my friend, but I would never want to date him. If Lissa wanted to…yeah, well, there was nothing I could do about that. Besides, I wanted her to be happy and I wanted Christian to be happy too. He seemed to like her and as far as I knew, he was available.

"Yeah, he is," I whispered back. "Don't do anything stupid."

She grinned. "Never."

They left, both smiling brightly.

I sighed and plopped down on a chair. Not even ten minutes later the doorbell rang again. Weird. Who'd come here besides Christian? It couldn't be Dimitri. He had a key. I opened the door to see a very angry Tasha.

She pushed past me and said, "Where's Dimka?"

"Umm, he's at work," I said, following her to the living room.

She snorted. "Yeah, sure. At work. I've been there. He wasn't there."

"Well, maybe he went to the store or something," I said shrugging.

"He's avoiding me!" Tasha exclaimed. "He doesn't call me back!"

"Maybe he's busy at the moment."

Tasha turned to me, her eyes blazing with anger. "It's your fault. It's all because of you!"

"What did I do?" I exclaimed. I didn't like that she took her anger out on me.

"Dimitri's been acting so weird since you're back," she bit out. "He said it wasn't going to change a thing, but he hasn't done anything but hang out with you! He's been ignoring me for the past days because you are back."

"He isn't ignoring you," I said, irritated. "You saw him yesterday. And you were here the day before yesterday. You can't expect him to be with you all the time. He's got to work, you know. And his family would also like to see him once in a while. That's probably where he is right now. Instead of yelling at me, you should go to them and see if he's there."

She clenched her fists. "You think you can come back here and take him away from me, but I warn you, that is not going to happen."

Didn't she just hear what I was saying? "I'm not here to steal him away from you if that's what you think. I'm not that childish."

Dimitri was in love with Tasha and I respected that. I didn't understand why he'd fall for her, but that was none of my business. I wasn't going to take him away from her. Unless she didn't want him anymore. I'd gladly take him back.

"Yeah right!" Tasha snorted. "When we were kids you were already such a jealous bitch. You kept him away from me and now you want to keep him away from me again!"

"That's not true!" I exclaimed. "When we were kids he just wasn't interested in you! I didn't keep him away from you and I'm not doing it now!"

"Liar!" she hissed. "I wish you'd just stayed in America. Dimka is better off without you."

Ouch. That hurt. "That's not up to you," I said, crossing my arms. "If he doesn't want to be my friend anymore, he just has to tell me and then I'll leave."

"He doesn't want to be your friend, but he's too nice to say anything!"

"Yeah, you're right. He is too nice," I said. "You boss him around all the time and he just lets you do it, even though he doesn't like it. You're always angry at him, even when he hasn't done anything wrong. He deserves much better than you."

"You are such a bitch!"

I smirked. "But I'm surely not the only one," I said, giving her a pointed look.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "When I find Dimka, I'll tell him you need to leave. If I were you, I'd start packing my things."

"You are going to let him choose between us?"

"Yes. And he's going to choose me," she said icily. "You can try all you want, but he's mine. He will choose me and you'll be left alone."

I looked down and blinked back tears. Would he really choose her? I'd been his best friend for thirteen years. Okay, I'd been a very bad friend for the past three years, but I was back now and I wasn't going to leave again. Even if he didn't want a relationship with me, even if he'd marry Tasha, I would still want to be his friend.

"You should've just stayed in America," Tasha hissed. "He's happier without you."

She turned abruptly and left me there, stunned. _He's happier without you. _Could that be true? Was I just ruining his life by coming back? Should I have just stayed away? Sighing loudly, I sat down and buried my face in my hands. How did my life become such a mess?

**DPOV**

When I came home, I found Rose in the living room. She was sitting on the couch, her face in her hands. Suddenly I was worried that she'd been crying again, but when I entered she looked up and I saw no tears. I sighed in relief. Okay. Now was the time to ask her. It was now or never.

"Roza, I-"

"Tasha's been looking for you," she interrupted. "She says she's been calling you all day and that you're ignoring her. She's pretty angry."

"Damn it," I cursed. Could that woman never leave me alone? She always needed to know where I was, what I was doing, who I was with. "How mad was she?"

"She was pissed off," Rose answered.

"Damn. I'd better call her then," I muttered. But not now. I would call her later. I had to sort things out with Rose first.

Rose sighed loudly.

I glanced over at her. "Is there something wrong?" I asked.

"No," she said shrugging. She got up and walked toward me. "I just don't understand what you see in Tasha. I mean, she's always angry at you and she bosses you around. You don't like that. At least, the Dimitri I know doesn't like that," she said, smiling ruefully. She sighed again, shaking her head, and continued, "I don't get why you put up with her shit." Her voice was becoming louder and louder with each word she said. I frowned. Where was this coming from? "Actually, I remember that you didn't like her at all when we were younger." She was practically screaming at me now. I didn't understand why she suddenly was so mad at me. "She was always stalking you and you hated it. When did that change? She even calls you Dimka! You hate that nickname!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I exclaimed. I was starting to get angry, too. I'd come home to tell her I was going to break up with Tasha, hoping we could have a serious talk and work everything out so we could be together and now she was yelling at me for a reason I didn't understand.

"What am I talking about? About you being with Tasha! I remember you once told me you didn't want anything to do with her and now you're going to marry her!"

"It's not my fault that you come back here and you're surprised to see that I'm engaged!" I yelled back. "If you'd called me back or wrote me three years ago, you would have known what was happening in my life and then this wouldn't have happened! Then I wouldn't even be with Tasha! But instead, you just dumped me like that," I said, snapping my fingers together. "If you didn't want to talk to me anymore, you could have just said it!"

"It wasn't because I didn't want to talk to you anymore. I was just too busy!" Rose exclaimed, clenching her fists.

"That's bullshit!" I yelled. "You couldn't possibly be too busy to call me once in a while! I tried to reach you for six months and you never picked up the phone. You never answered my letters. You just dropped me like I meant nothing to you."

"That's not true!" Rose shouted, tears filling her eyes. "You meant everything to me!"

I snorted. "If I'd meant anything to you, you wouldn't have ignored me. Six fucking months, Rose! I waited six months, hoping you would call me or write me. But nothing! I got nothing! And don't tell me you were too busy!" I was breathing heavily now. Finally, after all those years I could tell her how I felt about her dumping me like I was nothing to her. "Before you left, you promised me you'd stay in touch with me! You broke your promise. Don't blame me now."

"It's not like you kept your promise!" she shot back.

Tears were flowing down her cheeks now. I wanted to take her in my arms and comfort her, but I had to remind myself that I was mad at her. She'd hurt me a lot and I wanted to know the truth. Not some bullshit line that she was too busy to contact me.

"You said you would wait for me! You promised it! You promised that when I'd be back, we could be together! But instead, you went off with someone else!"

"What did you expect me to do? Wait forever for you?" I said, incredulous. This was unbelievable. I'd never thought I would ever have a fight with Rose. I'd _never_ fought with her before. Yeah, we'd had a lot of discussions in the past, but that had been nothing like this. I'd never been angry like this before. "You shut me out of your life and I don't even know why! After six months I finally realized you didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I didn't think you'd ever come back. I realized I had to move on and I gave up on you. I had to." I was nearly crying now too, thinking back of that time, of how devastated I'd been when I'd realized that Rose didn't want me anymore… It had broken my heart into a million pieces.

"I promised you I'd come back for you!" Rose cried. "I told you I would."

"Yeah, you promised that," I shot back, "but since you didn't keep your other promise, I didn't think you would keep this one too!"

She stared at me. I thought she was going to yell at me again, but then she suddenly said, "I'm sorry."

"What?" I said, surprised.

"I'm sorry," she repeated softly. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"You should've thought about that a long time ago," I said icily.

She hung her head in shame. Again, I wanted to hold her and tell her I loved her, but I was just so mad.

"Why won't you tell me the truth? Why did you stop calling, Rose?" She didn't say anything. "Please, Roza. Tell me the truth," I begged. "You told me you loved me before you left… if that was true, then why did you stop calling? Why, Roza?"

She bit her lip. "I told you. I was busy."

I stared at her, realizing it had no use. It was silent for a while. Then I said something I would've never expected to say. "I wish you'd never come back," I said, voice hard and cold.

She gasped and looked at me with hurt. I regretted my words immediately and wanted to take them back, but it was too late.

"I understand," she said in a small voice. "I'll pack my things and leave." Slowly, she turned around and walked to the guestroom. Ten minutes later, she was back with her luggage. Before leaving, she turned to me and said, "I'm sorry for everything, Dimitri. I hope…" She took a deep breath and tried again, "I hope Tasha will make you happy. You deserve it."

She left.

I stared at the door she just disappeared through. Had I made the right decision in letting her go? She was the love of my life. Could I just let her leave like that? Again? I'd let her leave once and I'd thought I'd never see her again. But four days ago she came back and I'd never been happier. Was I going to throw my chance to be with her away because of this? _She hurt you badly. Maybe it's better if you let her go. _

And so I did.

**RPOV**

Still crying, I walked aimlessly through Baia. _I wish you'd never come back._ I kept hearing the words in my head. It was like he ripped my heart out and threw it away. But I guess I'd deserved it. He was right. What had I expected to find? That he'd patiently waited for me after I'd completely ignored him the past three years? It's not that I'd wanted to do that. Not at all. And I knew he deserved to know the truth, but I was so afraid to tell him. But it didn't matter anymore. He hated me and he wanted me out of his life_. I wish you'd never come back…_

After a couple of hours I sat down on a bench. After I'd calmed down a bit, I dialed Lissa's number.

"Hey, Rose," Lissa said cheerfully through the phone.

"Hi," I said softly. I sounded like I had a bad cold.

Lissa immediately knew something was wrong. "Rose, what happened?" she asked, her voice now filled with concern.

I started crying again. "I…I can't do it anymore," I said between sobs. "I can't stay here anymore. I'm going back to Montana. I'm sorry, Liss."

"Rose! What the hell happened?" she exclaimed.

"Dimitri…he hates me. I – I thought I'd be okay here, but I can't watch him getting married to Tasha. I have to leave. I can't stay here."

"Where are you?" Lissa's voice was frantic. "Rose, where are you? I'm going to come and get you."

"I'm sorry, Liss," I sniffled.

"Don't you dare hang up on me, Rose. Tell me where you-"

I disconnected and got up. Taking my suitcase with me, I started walking again, but this time I knew where I was headed. When I arrived, I was a little hesitant. It was almost ten o'clock in the evening. Should I bother him this late? Well, if I wanted to get out of here tonight without paying too much, I had to. I rang the doorbell and waited nervously for him to open. When he finally did, he greeted me with a smile on his face.

"Rose, what brings you here tonight?" Mark asked friendly. When he saw the look on my face, he frowned. "What's wrong, Rose?"

"I…" I cleared my throat. "I'd like to ask you a favor."

"Do you want to come inside?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I don't have time for that."

"Okay," he said hesitantly. "What is it that you need then?"

"Could you bring me to the airport?" I asked. "I'll pay you." If I'd call a taxi, it would cost me too much and I needed the money to pay my flight home.

"Are you going back to Montana?" he asked.

"Yes. Please, can you bring me?"

Mark looked at me with worry, but didn't ask any more questions, which I was glad for. "Sure. But you don't have to pay me, Rose. I'll be richt back."

He went back inside. I heard him talk to a woman – it was probably to his wife, Oksana. When he appeared in the doorway again, she was right beside him.

"Hi, Rose," she said. "Mark just told me you're going back to America? We hadn't even had a chance to talk yet."

"I know," I said sadly. "I'm sorry. But I can't stay here. I need to go back."

She nodded and gave me a sad smile. "I hope you'll visit us sometime."

"Of course," I said, forcing a smile.

Five minutes later I sat in the car next to Mark. I turned in my seat and looked out of the window as he drove away. I'd never thought I'd leave Baia a second time. I'd thought that once I was back here, I'd stay here forever. With Dimitri.

I thought the first time I'd left this place had been bad, but this time was even worse. When I'd left the first time, I'd known that, one day, I'd see Dimitri again. Now, leaving for the second time, I knew I would never see or hear from him again.

_I wish you'd never come back._

Those had been his last words to me and I would have to live with the knowledge he hated me. It saddened me deeply that it had ended like this between us, but maybe it was better this way. It would be easier to let go of him like this. At least, that's what I hoped.

I sighed and turned around in my seat again, looking straight ahead.

"You okay?" Mark asked, glancing over at me.

"I'm fine," I said, looking out of the window again as a single tear slid down my cheek. I knew it would be hard, but I had to move on. Dimitri had and I'd have to do the same. It was time to let him go.

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**So...their talk didn't go as planned and now Rose is going back to Montana. Do you think Dimitri will change his mind and try to stop her? And what were Rose and Lissa talking about? Why was Lissa so worried? Does it have anything to do with why Rose never contacted Dimitri? **

**Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of this chapter (and please don't kill me for making Rose and Dimitri fight xD). **


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi there! Thank you for all the reviews. I also saw that a few of you were disappointed that I'd let them fight. It was evident, though. They had bottled up their feelings for so long. It had to explode sometime. But let me make it up to you in this chapter. You'll finally find out what Rose has been hiding for Dimitri. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy**

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**CHAPTER 8**

**DPOV**

I felt numb. I'd let the love of my life leave and the last thing I'd said to her was that I wished she had never come back. I hadn't meant it, but I had been so angry. The words had just left my lips and now she was gone. She'd never forgive me for this.

The doorbell rang. Knowing it would be Tasha, I got up and answered the door. She was fuming. I let her rant at me for almost half an hour. I then realized that Rose had been right. I hated it when someone bossed me around – except when it was Rose. She could make me do anything she wanted. But I'd let Tasha command me for the past year and I'd done nothing against it. She'd yelled at me and been angry with me for so many things – things that weren't even my fault. I'd put up with her every fucking time and I was doing it again right now. But not anymore. This was going to end. Now.

"Tasha," I interrupted her rant. She didn't hear me of course. She kept going on and on about how I'd been ignoring her all day. "Tasha!" I yelled. She shut up, startled. I took a deep breath and said, "I can't do this anymore. I can't marry you, Tasha."

She stared at me, speechless. "What?" she finally managed to say.

"I can't marry you," I repeated.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed, outraged. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry, but we are over," I said. I wished there was a nicer way to say this, but there wasn't. "The only thing you do is yell at me and if you're not yelling at me, you're telling me what I should and shouldn't do. I want to make my own decisions. I don't need someone else controlling my life."

"You can't do this!" Tasha shouted, clenching her fist. "You can't just dump me!"

"I'm really sorry, but I have to," I said. "I can't go on like this. I can't have someone call me ten times when I don't pick up the phone immediately. If I don't, it means I'm busy and that I'll call you back later. You don't have to leave six messages saying that I should call you back."

"Okay. Fine. I won't do that anymore," she said. "I'll wait until you call me back."

"It's not just that," I said, trying to stay calm. "Didn't you just hear me? I hate that you're trying to control my life. You're always telling me what I should do and when I should do it, who I should see and who I should stay away from. You wanted me to stay away from Rose."

That was what bothered me the most. I knew she'd wanted Rose gone here as soon as possible. She'd never liked Rose and tried to denigrate her. I suddenly wondered if Tasha had said something to Rose what had made her so angry at me when I'd come home. Had Tasha visited her and said something to her? But it didn't really matter anymore. Rose was gone and I had no idea where she was going to. Maybe she'd stay in Baia, but I doubted it.

Tasha crossed her arms. "So that's what it's really about. It's about _her_, isn't it?"

I didn't like the way she said that. "Partly," I admitted, "but it's also about all the things I just mentioned."

I better didn't mention the fact that I had never truly loved her. She was already pissed and I didn't want to make her angrier. I also didn't want to hurt her feelings further by telling her this.

"I can change, Dimka," she quickly said as she looked at me pleadingly. "I won't tell you anymore what to do. I'll just…give you my opinion and I'll – I'll stop calling so much. Please give me another chance!"

I shook my head. "No, Tasha. I can't."

"Why not?" she cried.

I didn't know if I should tell her the truth. I knew it was going to hurt her – and it was also going to make her angry. But I couldn't lie about this and if I wanted her to let me go, this was probably the only way. Besides, she deserved to know the truth. Wasn't that what I wanted from Rose and didn't get? I couldn't do the same to Tasha now. So I decided to tell the truth.

"Because I'm still in love with Rose," I answered.

She stared at me, shocked. Then, out of nowhere, she slapped me across my face. It stung, but I guess I'd deserved it.

"I knew it," she said, eyes blazing with anger. "I knew it, but you insisted that you weren't in love with her. Our relationship was just a lie, wasn't it? You never got over her. You've always loved her."

I didn't deny it. It was true, after all. Instead I just said, "I'm sorry, Tasha."

"I don't want to hear your apologies. Save it for someone who cares."

She took the engagement ring from her finger and put it on the table. Without saying another word, she turned and left. I winced when she slammed the door shut. Hard.

Sighing, I sat down. I felt kind of relieved that it was over with Tasha. Her reaction could've been much worse. I'd expected more drama, but she was probably too shocked right now to yell at me.

After a while, someone was at the door again. I stayed in my seat. I didn't want to talk to anyone right now. But whoever it was at the door kept ranging and ranging the bell so I finally – reluctantly – got up and went to open the door. I was surprised to see Lissa at my doorstep.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Where's Rose?" she asked me frantically, pushing past me.

"I don't know," I said, following her back to the kitchen.

"She already left?"

I wasn't surprised that Rose had called Lissa to tell her she'd left. "Yes. A couple of hours ago."

"Why? What happened?"

"We had a fight," I admitted, "and I told her I wished she'd never come back here."

She gasped, covering her hand over her mouth. "Why did you say that?"

"I was angry. I wanted the truth about why she'd ignored me the past three years. We used to call each other every day, but then she suddenly started ignoring me. I kept trying to contact her for six months, but she never called me back. I wanted to know why. She told me she was too busy." It hurt. It hurt me so much knowing that that was the reason and still… I didn't entirely believe it. It had to be something else.

Lissa groaned. "Is that what she said?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Oh, Rose," Lissa muttered, shaking her head. "What did you do?"

"What? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"She lied, of course," Lissa said, looking at me as if I was stupid. "She wasn't too busy."

"Then why did she say so?"

"Because she's scared to tell you the truth," Lissa answered.

I frowned. "Why?"

Lissa shrugged. "Look… You have to know the truth. I'd told her already she should just tell you. She said she would, but apparently she didn't. So I guess I'll have to tell you then."

"What is it?" I asked curiously. Finally I would find out the truth.

"I met Rose in boarding school. She was my roommate and I noticed from the very first day that she wasn't happy there." She sighed. "One night I found her crying in our room. She then told me about you and I found out that you were the reason why she was so sad. She told me that she loved you, that her mom forced her to move to Montana and that one day she would go back for you so you could be together. She lived for the days when she could hear your voice over the phone, but after a while it became too much. It was starting to get to her. After she called you, she would always cry. There were many nights that she cried herself to sleep because she missed you so much. She stopped calling you because it was too hard for her. She couldn't handle it anymore."

I had to blink back tears as I listened to Lissa. I'd never known Rose had been so sad there. Whenever we had talked over the phone, she sounded okay. Hearing that she used to cry herself to sleep because of me broke my heart.

"She got depressed and couldn't eat anymore," Lissa continued. "After a few more weeks she stopped eating altogether. I had to practically force her to eat something. But she couldn't hold it down and threw everything up. She became so weak and thin that she had to be admitted in a clinic."

My heart nearly stopped. "Wh-what? She had an eating disorder?"

My poor Roza. How could this have happened to her? If Lissa hadn't told me, I would have never guessed something like that could've happened to her. Although… Now I was thinking about it, Roza's eating habits had changed a little bit. She didn't eat anymore as much as she used to do. There had even been one morning when she didn't want to eat and I had to convince her she had to eat something because it wasn't healthy to skip breakfast. When we were younger, she'd never wanted to skip breakfast. No, that wasn't entirely true. She'd never wanted to skip _any_ meal and when she ate, she ate for two. This morning she'd even given me her last donut. It was her favorite food and she'd never given her donut to anyone before. I hadn't thought much of it, but now I was wondering how I hadn't noticed these changes before.

Lissa nodded. "It took her a year to recover, but she managed. It was hard, though. I visited her a lot. Her mom did too. That helped her a little. When she got out, she wanted to call you, but she was afraid. Not only because she would have to tell you about what had happened to her but also because she thought you'd be mad that she'd never called you back the past year."

"I wouldn't have been mad if she'd told me the truth," I said, my voice trembling. "I would have understood. If she'd explained to me why she never called… I swear, I would have understood."

"That's what I told her too, but she didn't want to believe me."

"Why did she come back then if she thought I was going to be mad?" I asked. "If she was too afraid to call me, then why did she come back?"

"She wanted to tell you in person. She thought telling you something so grave over the phone wasn't right. But apparently she's still afraid of how you would react," Lissa answered. "And also…you're with Tasha now."

I opened my mouth to tell her that I was no longer together with Tasha, but then decided to wait and let her finish her story.

"You were the reason she came back, but when she found out you were engaged… She didn't dare to tell you she still loves you because she thought it would ruin your already unstable friendship."

I looked up at Lissa, surprised. "What? She still loves me?"

"Of course she does. She never stopped loving you, Dimitri. I talked to her today and she wanted to tell you tonight that she's still in love with you, but…"

"But I ruined it," I finished for her. "I got mad and made her leave."

"It's not your fault, Dimitri," Lissa said, giving me a sympathetic look.

"It is," I said sadly. "I should have stopped her from leaving. I should have told her I still love her." I thought about how sad Rose had been since she'd come back here. I wondered if Lissa knew why. "Rose has been crying a lot the last couple of nights. Was that because of me? Whenever I asked her, she told me she couldn't tell me."

Lissa gave me a sad smile. "Yeah. She thought she'd lost you. She'd come back here, hoping she could finally be together with you, but she was too late. You'd already moved on."

"But I haven't," I said softly. "I still love her."

"I know. But instead of standing here, you should go after her and stop her before she goes back to America."

"But if it's true that she's going back to America, she's probably already on her way to the airport," I said sadly. "When I get there, she'll be gone. I'm too late."

"You don't know that if you don't try!" Lissa said fiercely. "Do you want her back or not?"

"Yes," I said without hesitation.

"Then get in the car!" she said, agitated. "We already lost some time because I had to tell you the truth first, but now you have to leave. I'll keep calling her and try to convince her to stay."

"You think she'd want me back after what I said to her?" I asked, hopeful.

"Yes! She loves you, Dimitri. All she wants is you. Now go! You're wasting time."

I was moving toward the door, but then stopped and turned to Lissa. "I need to know…Is she still sick?" I asked hesitantly. "I noticed that she doesn't eat anymore as much as she used to…when she still lived here."

"No, she's not sick anymore," Lissa answered. "She wouldn't have been released if the doctors thought she would relapse. I don't know how her eating habits were before she moved to Montana so it might be true that she's eating less than she used to, but it's normal that she can't eat anymore as much as back then. Besides, I've kept an eye on her since she's out of the clinic, to see if she's eathing enough. I'm going to keep doing that. It's part of why I wanted to move here with her."

"So she's not in danger to relapse again?" I asked.

"You can never be sure of that. Sometimes it's a little difficult, but the last thing she wants is to relapse again. Rose is strong and I believe in her. You should too."

"I believe in her," I said. "I've always believed in her. And I know she's strong. She's the strongest woman I've ever met."

I stood there, staring down at the floor, thinking of Rose. She'd been through so much and I hadn't known anything about it. I'd thought she just didn't want me anymore. Instead, she'd been fighting an eating disorder.

"Are you going to stand there all night?" Lissa exclaimed, agitated. "Go get her before it's too late! You're wasting time. Again!"

That was all I needed to hear. I took my keys and sprinted out of the door. I leapt into my car and hit the gas, hoping I wasn't too late. I drove as fast as I dared. I didn't want the police to stop me for speeding because that would only slow me down.

When I got to the airport, I sprinted inside and went to look at the timetable. As I'd expected, there was no direct flight from here to America. She would probably take the flight to Moscow and from there she'd take a flight to wherever she wanted to go in America. The flight to Moscow would leave in ten minutes so I rushed to the gate, pushing people aside, hoping she hadn't boarded the plane yet. Just when I got there, I saw a girl with long dark brown hair check in at the gate.

My heart leapt in my throat as I called for her. "Roza!"

She didn't hear me and walked through the gate. _No, no. I couldn't be too late._

"Roza!" I called again.

I wanted to follow her, but the ticket agent stopped me.

"Passport, please?" she asked.

"Look, I just need to talk to someone," I said quickly.

"You can't go in there if you don't show me your passport, sir," the agent said while I was calling for Rose again.

"But I just need to talk to someone!" I said, almost frantic. "Please let me go. I need to stop her."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't let you-"

"Roza!" I yelled again. By now people had stopped to stare at me, but I didn't care. I just wanted my Roza back.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she said.

"No, please – I just want to talk to that girl with the dark brown hair," I said desperately.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't let you go in," she said. She glanced over at two security guards and called them. "Could you please escort him-"

"No, please!" I interrupted. "You don't understand! I have to talk to her! Now!"

When nobody said something, I started calling Roza's name again. But she didn't show up. She probably was already on the plane. Otherwise she would have turned around, right? She would've come back if she'd heard me calling her name.

"Sir, if you're not boarding this plane, I'm afraid you'll have to leave," one of the security guards said.

I sighed and nodded, realizing I was too late. Slowly, I turned around and started walking away. I couldn't believe I'd ruined this. All I had to do was stop her, but I'd been too late. It took all of me to not burst out in tears right then and there as realization hit me. I'd lost the love of my life forever.

**RPOV**

As I checked in and walked through the gate, I thought I heard someone call my name. But it wasn't just someone. I thought I recognized Dimitri's voice. He was also the only one who called me Roza. Could he be here? _You're deluding yourself. He isn't here. He doesn't even know you're going back to America and he couldn't care less. _

I started walking again, but then my phone started ringing. It was Lissa. Again. She' called me almost non-stop for the past hour. I'd ignored her calls, but now she was starting to really annoy me. This time I put my phone off. As I continued walking, I heard it again.

"Roza!"

I stopped again and glanced over my shoulder. Could it be? No, it wasn't possible. He hated me. Even if he knew where I was right now, he wouldn't have come after me. I started walking once again, but immediately stopped again. I kept hearing my name in Russian. It couldn't be that I was imagining this, right? I wasn't that crazy.

I turned around, contemplating to go back and see if there was someone there for me. I took a deep breath and walked back to the gate. The closer I came, the more I heard. There was a commotion going on there. I heard the ticket agent call for the security guards. I came to a standstill when I saw what was happening before me. I couldn't believe he was here. He was really here. Dimitri said something to the guards and was trying to pass through them. One of the guards stopped him and said something to him and then, defeated, Dimitri nodded and turned away.

"Is there something wrong, miss?" The ticket agent was suddenly by my side. "Did you forget something? You should really go back. The plane is about to leave."

I didn't answer, but instead started yelling, "Dimitri!"

He didn't hear me at first, but then after the third time I called for him, he stopped walking and slowly turned around. His eyes widened when he saw me and then he rushed toward me.

"Roza!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms around me. "Oh, Roza. Thank God! I thought I was too late."

I was stunned as he hugged me tightly against him. "I – I don't understand. How did you know I was here? And why did you follow me here?"

He took a step back so he could look at me, but didn't let go of me. "I'm so sorry, Roza. I didn't mean it," he said desperately. "I didn't mean anything of it! I love you, Roza. Please don't go. Please stay."

My heart skipped a beat when he said he loved me, but there was something I didn't understand. Frowning, I said, "But…what about Tasha then? You're going to marry her."

"No," he said, his voice trembling. "I broke up with her. I was going to tell you that. I wanted to break up with her so I could be with you…"

"But I thought you loved Tasha," I said, confused.

"I don't. I made myself believe that I loved her," he explained. "I hoped that if I was with her, I would get over you. I thought that I was over you. But then you came back…and I realized I still love you. I wanted to tell you earlier, but then we got into that fight and… I'm so sorry, Roza." He looked like he was going to lose it. He hugged me again and buried his face in my hair. "I'm so, so sorry for what I said. Please forgive me. I didn't mean it. Please don't leave me. I can't lose you again. I love you so much."

"But…aren't you angry with me?" I asked, blinking back tears. I noticed there were people watching us, but at this moment I couldn't care less. "I mean, I understand why you'd be mad. I didn't call you for almost three years and then I'm suddenly back…"

"I'm not mad," he said as he looked into my eyes. "Lissa told me everything. That you were in a clinic because you had an eating disorder… Why you didn't call me back… I'm so sorry you had to go through that." A gasp escaped my lips. "No, Roza, don't worry," he quickly said. "I'm not angry. I just wish you would have told me the truth. But I understand… I understand why you didn't want to tell me."

I was shocked that Lissa had told him about my eating disorder, but I also felt relieved that he finally knew the truth.

"Please tell me I'm not too late," he whispered, cupping my face in his hands. "I can't lose you, Roza. Not again. Please tell me you still love me."

I couldn't believe that after everything I'd done, he still wanted me. _He said he understands. He's not mad at you. He said he still loves you. _This was my chance to get him back, to finally be with him after three years of hell, and this time I wasn't going to ruin it.

"I still love you," I said as tears rolled down my cheeks. But this time it weren't tears of sadness, but of happiness.

"Y-you do?" he asked, uncertain.

I smiled. "Yes. I love you, Dimitri." My smile faded as I continued, "And I'm sorry that I got so mad at you. I didn't mean to, but Tasha… She wanted to make you choose between us. I was mad and scared that I would lose you and I-"

"It's fine, Roza," he interrupted gently. "I already thought she'd said something to you. But you have to know, Roza. I'll always choose you."

"I love you," I whispered, unable to say more.

A smile broke out on his face. Pulling me close, he kissed me fiercely. I melted into his arms and kissed him back. It felt so good, so right to be in his arms and to kiss him, to have him love me. After three years we were finally together again. I couldn't be happier at this moment.

"I love you too," Dimitri whispered as he pulled away from me. "So much."

"I'm so sorry, Dimitri. I should have told you the truth, but I was scared. Scared of what you'd say and-"

"Ssh, it's fine," he said softly, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "I'm just glad you're okay now."

I sighed in relief and kissed him. He wrapped his arm around me and as we started walking toward the exit, he said, "Let's go home."

That sounded like the best idea I'd heard in a while.

* * *

**So what did you think of that little reunion? Did it make you happy? What about Rose's secret? Did you expect something like that? **

**I hope you liked it! Please leave me a review and tell me what you think :) **


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows! You are all amazing. Thank you Alexis R.T. for your review, it means a lot to me! **

**So here's the last chapter. I hope you'll like it. There will be an epilogue, maybe two. What would you prefer? One or two? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy**

* * *

**CHAPTER 9**

**RPOV**

It was quiet as we walked back toward the car, but it was a comfortable silence. I still couldn't entirely believe what had happened. Half an hour ago I had been sure that Dimitri hated me and then suddenly he was there, telling me he loved me. _He loves me. _Dimitri opened the door for me and I got in. Before starting the car, he reached over and planted a soft kiss on my lips. I sighed happily.

When we were on our way back to Baia, I called Lissa. She was mad at me for leaving like that and not answering my phone sooner, but relieved that Dimitri had stopped me in time. Apparently she'd been the one to tell him I was at the airport. After her rant she asked me if Dimitri and I were together now. Smiling, I told her yes. She squealed and wanted to know what had happened at the airport exactly, but I told her I would talk to her in the morning. I wasn't going to tell her everything with Dimitri next to me. She would have to wait until tomorrow.

"Where are you now?" I asked her. "Are you still at Dimitri's place?"

"Yes. But Christian will pick me up in ten minutes. He'll take me back to the hotel."

"Ah, Christian." I smiled. "You two are really getting along, huh?"

Lissa giggled. "Maybe. Yes, actually."

"Well, I'll let you go then, in case he shows up early," I said teasingly. "Don't want to keep you away from him. See you tomorrow."

"Bye, Rose. Don't forget to tell me everything that happened tonight!"

"I will," I promised before ending the call.

When we finally arrived at Dimitri's place, it was past midnight. We got out of the car and I was startled when Dimitri swept me up in his arms and carried me inside.

"Put me down," I said laughing.

"No," he simply said, a smile on his face.

I rolled my eyes and he bent his head to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let him carry me to his bedroom. He put me gently down on his bed. I lay down and made myself comfortable on the bed. This bed was much better than the one in the guestroom. Dimitri hovered over me and leaned down to kiss me again. Wrapping my arms around his neck again, I pulled him closer and captured his lips with mine. Our kisses grew more passionate as time passed and clothes started to come off.

"We don't have to do this tonight if you don't want to," Dimitri breathed as he pulled away from me. "We can stop-"

I pulled him to me again and pressed my lips against his. "No, I don't want to stop," I whispered. "I've waited three years to be with you again, Dimitri."

He leaned his forehead against mine. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I said firmly. Three years ago he'd asked me the same thing over and over again. I was glad he was still the gentleman he'd been back then, but he should know by now that I was sure of what I wanted, that I was sure of him. "You're not going to ask me that every time we have sex, right?" I joked.

He grinned and his lips found mine again. This time he didn't stop to ask if I was sure this was what I wanted. The rest of our clothes came off and every single nerve in my body lit up as we became one. He was just as sweet and gentle as the first time. After three years apart, being with him this way felt like coming home. I was finally where I was supposed to be. With Dimitri…

When it was over, I lay my head against his chest and closed my eyes, sighing happily. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my hair.

"I love you, Roza," he murmured.

I smiled. "I love you too, comrade."

It didn't take long before I drifted off to sleep, wrapped up safely in Dimitri's strong arms. The next morning I woke up with a smile on my face as I remembered what had happened last night. When I glanced up at Dimitri, I saw that he was already awake.

He smiled and brushed a strand of hair out of my face. "Good morning, Roza."

"Good morning, comrade," I said, snuggling closer to him. "How long have you been awake?"

"An hour or so," he said shrugging.

"Why didn't you get up?" I said, stifling a yawn.

"Because I like watching you sleep."

I blushed.

"And I like it when you blush," Dimitri said grinning. "It's a shame you don't do it very often."

I playfully slapped his chest. "Stop it."

"I'm not doing anything," Dimitri said, still grinning. He leaned in and kissed me softly. When he pulled away, his smile disappeared and was replaced with a worried look. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" I asked frowning.

Dimitri bit his lip. "I know you don't like to talk about it, but…" He sighed. "What Lissa told me yesterday about your eating disorder and that you had to be admitted in a clinic…it worries me. I – I just want to know if you're okay now. Lissa said you are, but I'd like to hear it from you."

"I'm okay now. If I wasn't, they wouldn't have released me. I'm eating normally again and Lissa likes to keep an eye on me. To see if I don't skip any meals. And I won't, Dimitri," I said earnestly. "I won't relapse."

"I believe in you, Roza," he said softly. "You're strong. It's one of the reasons I love you. And if things get difficult…you know you can always talk to me. I'll help you through it."

I smiled. "I know. Thank you."

Dimitri kissed my forehead. "I'm glad you're okay now."

"I'm really sorry that I never called you back, Dimitri," I said softly. "I… I wanted to, but I needed to get better first. I didn't want you to know what was going on. I didn't want you to think I was weak."

"I would never think-"

I put my finger against his lips. "I know that, but still… I just wanted to get better first. I knew that if I told you what was going on, you would want to come to Montana to see me and I didn't want you to see me like that. I also didn't want you to spend all your savings to come and visit me."

"I don't care about money," he said. "I could've earned it back. If it meant that I could see you, I would've come immediately."

"I know that… But I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to handle it a second time if you left," I explained. "Leaving you here, three years ago, it hurt me so much. I didn't want to go through it a second time. Especially because I was already fragile back then…when I was recovering. So I told myself that I would call you after I was released."

"Then why didn't you?" Dimitri asked softly.

I sighed. "It had been so many months since I'd called you. I thought you'd be mad at me and I couldn't explain something like that over the phone. So instead I decided I would tell you the truth in person, but when I got here…" I looked down and let out another sigh. "I was afraid of what you would say. I didn't think you would believe me and I thought it didn't matter anymore because you were engaged…"

"I would have believed you, Roza," Dimitri said earnestly. "And you'll always matter to me. Even if I was still engaged, you were and will _always_ be the most important person in my life."

I smiled. "You mean that?"

"Yes," he said and he smiled too. "Of course I do. When you came into my life, you became the most important person in my life. And when you were gone, you still were the most important person in my life. Even when I was with Tasha, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I kept telling myself I was over you, but that's not true. I never stopped loving you, Roza."

"I'm sorry for hurting you so much," I whispered. "I should've known you wouldn't be mad at me once I'd explained everything. I should've known you would have believed me."

"We both made mistakes," Dimitri said. "I should have known you wouldn't have broken contact with me if there wasn't something wrong. I should've known that you wouldn't stop calling just because you were tired of me. You wouldn't do something like that. And instead of running to someone else, I should have waited for you. And you…you should have let me know what was going on with you. If you'd explained me everything, I would have understood if you wanted to keep distance for a while."

"I know. I'm sorry," I whispered.

Dimitri kissed my forehead. "It's okay, Roza. We're together now. That's all that matters."

Smiling, I pulled him closer and pressed my lips against his. His arms tightened around my waist as he kissed me back eagerly. We spent the rest of the morning in bed, repeating last night's activities.

In the afternoon we went to Dimitri's family to tell them the news. His sisters were all squealing when we told them we were together. The noise was deafening. They were almost happier than I was. It was incredible.

"We're going to be sisters-in-law!" Viktoria squeaked, jumping up and down.

"Now you're getting ahead of yourself," I said laughing.

"I'm so happy for the both of you," Olena said smiling.

"Thank you, Olena," I said as she hugged me.

"Wait, does that mean I won't get to marry Rose?" Paul pouted.

Dimitri grinned and ruffled his hair. "I think you're a little bit too young for Roza, buddy."

Yeva suddenly appeared and said to Dimitri, "I'm glad you made the right decision." She gave me a small smile and without another word, she turned around and left.

I looked over at Dimitri. "What was that about?"

He just shrugged and smiled. "Nothing important."

Lissa and Christian came over. I was surprised to see they arrived together. It made me wonder if Christian had really driven her back to the hotel or if Lissa had stayed with him. I shot Lissa a questioning look, but she just grinned.

"You still have to tell me what happened last night at the airport," she said.

"But before I do, you need to tell me what's going on between you and Christian," I said, "and don't you dare tell me there's nothing going on."

She blushed, but didn't try to deny it. "Later," she said before waking back toward Christian.

It didn't take long for the news about Dimitri and me to reach Tasha. She was fuming – at least, that's what Christian told us – but I guess we were lucky that she hadn't come over to make a scene about it. She just ignored the both of us now, which I didn't mind at all.

A couple of days later I moved back into my old house with Lissa, though I stayed over a lot at Dimitri's place. Besides, Lissa could use the privacy, since she'd just started dating Christian. She'd admitted to me that they'd kissed when Christian had dropped her off at the hotel. It wasn't really a surprise to me as it was to Dimitri. The way those two had hit it off the first day they'd met, it had only been a matter of time before they started dating. Now we could do double dates, which was nice.

But when I was alone with them, it wasn't so nice. They were always all over each other. So whenever Christian came over, I retreated to my room. But even my room wasn't good enough to keep the noises out coming from Lissa's room. Tonight was just like that and instead of staying at home, I decided it was better if I stayed with Dimitri tonight.

"Hey, comrade," I greeted him when he opened the door for me. "You mind if I stay with you tonight? Lissa and Christian are making some terrible noises I'd rather not hear."

"Not at all," Dimitri said grinning as he let me in.

I walked to the kitchen and started looking for food in the fridge. I was hungry, which was a good thing for me. I was feeling more like myself again. Dimitri came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I missed you," he murmured as he kissed my neck.

Smiling, I turned around in his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Did you?" I said grinning.

Dimitri nodded, closed the fridge and pushed me against its door. "Very much," he said as his nose skimmed my jaw line. He looked up at me and then his lips found mine. I kissed him back eagerly as I molded against his body.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured as he pulled away.

"I'm so glad you stopped me from leaving. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't come for me," I said softly, remembering that night at the airport.

"I'm also glad that I came after you," he said as he planted a soft kiss on my lips. "And this time I'm never letting you go again."

"You promise?"

Dimitri kissed me again. "I'll never let you go. I promise."

As he wrapped his arms around me and I lay my head on his chest, I knew that he was everything I would ever need in my life. I was where I belonged, in the arms of the love of my life. I was home.

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**Awww, I love happy endings! What did you think of this chapter? Was it good? Please leave a review and let me know ;)**


	10. Epilogue I

**Thank you all so much for the reviews! Here's the first epilogue. I know it's short, but I hope you'll like it. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy. **

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**EPILOGUE I**

_Sixteen months later_

**DPOV**

I was nervous as hell. As I was pacing the floor, Lissa tried to calm me down, but it had no use. Nobody could calm me down at this moment.

"It's going to be fine, Dimitri," Lissa said gently. "You're worrying over nothing."

"What if she says no?" I said panicked. I didn't think I would ever live through that.

"She won't say no," Lissa said. "She isn't stupid. You're going to be just fine. You just have to stay calm."

"Easy for you to say," I muttered.

She sighed and glanced at the clock. "Well, I need to go. Good luck!" she said, hugging me.

"Yeah, thanks," I said distractedly.

She left and I had nothing else to do but wait for Roza to come home. Tonight was the big night. I was going to propose to her. We'd been together for over a year now – sixteen months to be exact – and things were going great between us. The last few months I'd thought a lot about proposing to her and tonight I was finally going to do it. Roza was the love of my life and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I hoped she wanted the same, otherwise tonight would be very embarrassing for me.

I first had wanted to take her out to a nice restaurant, but then I decided I would cook for her. I'd made one of her favorite meals: paella. For dessert I had made tiramisu. I knew that would put her in a good mood. At least, I hoped so. After dessert I would pop the question.

Lissa had helped me tonight while Christian distracted Rose. She should be home any minute now. I hoped she would, because the food would be getting cold if she wasn't going to be here soon.

Finally, I heard the door open and slam shut. This was it. I swallowed heavily and fingered the box in the pocket of my jacket. I had saved a lot of money the last couple of months. Last week I'd finally been able to buy the ring. It was a diamond ring, with two smaller diamonds on either side of it. Lissa had helped me choose.

I looked up when Rose entered the kitchen and tried to appear casual.

"Ugh, you'll never believe what Christian-" She gasped and covered her hand over her mouth. "Oh Dimitri, this is so beautiful," she said as she looked around the place.

I'd turned the lights out, put candles everywhere and lit them. Romantic music played softly in the background. Good thing I'd had Lissa to help me. Otherwise I wouldn't have thought about that.

"This is really nice of you." She then noticed the paella. "You cooked for me?"

"I wanted to surprise you," I said, mustering up a smile.

"And you dressed up!" she gushed. "Now I feel bad. I'm just in my regular clothes."

"That doesn't matter," I said as I pulled the chair from under the table so she could sit down. "What matters is that you're here."

"You're so sweet," she said, kissing my cheek.

"You want some champagne?" I asked her.

She nodded and I filled her glass. My hand was shaking. I took a deep breath as I tried to stay calm.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked concerned. "You seem tense."

I nodded as I sat down across from her. "I'm fine."

I was too stressed to eat, but I ate anyway. She would find it odd if I said I wasn't hungry. _Relax, it's going to be fine. Don't worry. _

"Did you like it?" I asked after we'd finished our dinner.

"Yes, it was great," she said. "If they ever fire you at the dojo, I think you should consider becoming a chef, comrade. Your cooking skills are really good."

"Now you're exaggerating, Roza," I said, but I was glad she liked it. "I hope you aren't full yet, because I've made dessert."

"Aww, comrade, you're really spoiling me tonight," she said, smiling brightly. "What did you make?"

I got up to take the tiramisu out of the fridge and when she saw it, she almost jumped on me.

"Tiramisu!" she exclaimed.

While she attacked her dessert, I couldn't even look at my own dessert anymore, let alone eat it. I was feeling sick from the stress.

"Why aren't you eating?" Rose asked frowning.

"Not hungry anymore. You can have it if you want," I said, pushing my plate to her.

I watched as she dug in and ate the rest of the tiramisu. It still astonished me sometimes how much she could eat. There was a time, though, that she couldn't eat at all. At the age of sixteen, she'd spend a couple of months in a clinic because of an eating disorder. I hadn't been there around that time to help her, which saddened me a little, but my help hadn't been necessary. She had fully recovered on her own – and with the help of the doctors and Lissa, of course. I hadn't even known she'd had an eating disorder until Lissa had told me. Nonetheless, I was proud of her that she'd overcome her problems, even if I hadn't been the one to help her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rose asked me after licking her fork clean.

"Yes, I'm fine," I said. My mouth was dry and I was sweating bullets by now. _Calm down._ "Actually, I've been fine for a very long time now," I continued, taking her hand in mine. "And it's all because of you."

Rose blushed. "You're so sweet."

"So, um, what I wanted to say is that I don't want us to be ever apart. I can't imagine my life without you."

"Me neither," she said smiling, squeezing my hand.

That calmed me down a little. I swallowed heavily and took a deep breath before continuing my speech.

"I never thought I could love someone as much as I love you. You are the most beautiful and incredible woman I've ever met in my life. I don't know what I did to deserve your love, but I'm so, so grateful that I have it. You've made me the happiest man in the world. And if you let me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way. Will you marry me, Roza?" I asked, sinking down on one knee and opening the ring box.

Gasping, she looked from me to the ring. My heart was racing as she stood there staring at the ring, speechless. _Oh no, this is not good._

Finally, she looked up at me again and a smile broke out on her face. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I want to marry you, Dimitri."

I almost sagged in relief. She held out her hand and I slid the ring onto her finger.

"It's so beautiful," she murmured.

With shaking legs I got up and swept her up in my arms, twirling her around. She laughed and wrapped her arms around my neck. I put her down again and kissed her with all the passion and love I had for her.

"I love you so much," I whispered as I pulled away to look into her beautiful eyes.

"I love you too, comrade," she whispered back. "Always."

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**So how was that? Did you like the speech? It took me a while to come up with that. I'm really bad at proposals, I guess. But anyway, I hope you liked this.  
**

**Please leave me a review and tell me what you think ;)**


	11. Epilogue II

**Hey there! I'd like to apologize because it's been so long since I've updated. I've been busy with school, so I'm sorry you had to wait so long for the last chapter. ****But here it finally is, enjoy! ^^ **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.**

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**EPILOGUE II**

_6 years later_

**DPOV**

"Are you okay, Roza?" I asked as I parked the car in front of our house.

"I'm fine," she answered, giving me a small smile. "I'm just tired."

Her smile widened as she looked down at our beautiful baby girl in her arms. Today Roza had been released from the hospital, which she was glad for. She'd absolutely hated the hospital food and had complained a lot about it – just like the first time. Her complaining had been worse than usual because she'd been so tired from the delivery. I'd went out the next morning to buy her donuts. After all the pain she'd went through the night before she'd deserved it. Now we were finally home with our baby girl.

I helped Roza out of the car and wrapped my arm around her waist as we walked toward the door. Looking down at my beautiful daughter, I smiled. She looked just like her mother. She had dark brown eyes and a mop of equally dark brown hair. She was gorgeous.

We hadn't even made it halfway before our four-year-old son, Alexander, came running through the front door with Lissa and Christian right behind him.

"Alexander, be careful!" Lissa called.

"Can I see her? Can I see her?" Alexander asked, jumping up and down.

"Hey, buddy," I said, lifting him off the ground so he could have a look at his younger sister. He'd already visited Rose and his little sister with Lissa and Christian yesterday, but it was clear he was eager to see her again.

"She's so tiny," he noted.

I smiled. "Yes. You were just as tiny as her four years ago," I said, ruffling his hair. He looked more like me. He had my eyes, my hair and he was pretty tall for his age. Roza always joked he was a miniature version of me.

"Did you decide yet how you're going to name her?" Lissa asked as she and Christian joined us. When they'd visited Roza in the hospital, we hadn't figured out yet how we were going to name our daughter. This morning we'd finally come up with a name.

"Yes," Rose said, smiling proudly. "Her name is Yana Vasilisa Belikova."

"That's a beautiful name. I think I'm going to cry," Lissa said, tearing up.

Lissa was six months pregnant and she had a lot of mood swings. I was glad I wouldn't have to deal with that anymore. At least not for the next year or so. Now it was Christian's turn.

I smirked at him. He glared at me as he wrapped his arm around her waist and tried to calm down his wife. They'd moved in together in Roza's old house after Roza had moved in with me six years ago. Last year they'd gotten married and now they were expecting a girl.

"Well, we should get home," Christian announced, turning to us again. "We'll visit again tomorrow."

Rose nodded. "Take good care of her, Christian."

He smiled as he led Lissa away. "I will."

"Let's go inside," I said.

"When I can I play with her?" Alexander asked, his eyes still on Yana.

"I think you're going to have to wait a little while to play with your sister," I said.

He pouted. "Will you play with me then?"

I smiled. "Of course."

He grinned. "Will Mommy play with us, too?"

I shook my head. "Mommy needs to rest. But maybe tomorrow," I added quickly when a frown started to form on his face.

After I tucked Alexander into bed a few hours later, I went back to Roza. She was still where I left her, at the crib, watching Yana sleep peacefully.

"Come on, Roza," I said, gently tugging her arm. "You should rest."

"I'm not tired," she said.

"You are," I said. "I can see it in your eyes."

"I don't want to leave her yet," she said, glancing at our little bundle of joy again.

"She'll be fine, Milaya," I said. "She's fast asleep and if she wakes up, we'll hear it."

I remembered how Roza had carried the baby monitor with her the whole time when Alexander was born, afraid that she wouldn't hear him cry. We hadn't even needed a monitor in his case. He'd cried a lot and boy, had it been loud. He'd kept us awake a lot of nights when he was a baby. I had no doubt, though, that she would – again – take that monitor everywhere she went.

"She's so beautiful," Roza said smiling.

"I know. She looks just like you," I said, kissing her cheek.

She looked up at me and her smile grew wider. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she rested her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her hair.

"Thank you for always being here for me," she said softly.

"Thank you for making me the happiest man in the world," I said smiling. I leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. "I love you so much, Milaya."

"I love you too," she whispered.

I took her back to our bedroom. She fell asleep as soon as she was under the covers. Smiling, I lay down beside her and watched Roza sleep. I laced our fingers together and looked down at our wedding bands. I could remember our wedding day perfectly.

_I was so nervous as I waited for Roza to enter the church. What if she'd changed her mind? What is she wouldn't show up?_

"_Relax, Dimitri," Christian said. "It's going to be fine. They'll be here any minute now."_

"_Are you sure? Because I'm not," I said, raking a hand through my hair. "Maybe she changed her mind."_

"_You're worrying over nothing," Christian said. "She won't change her mind. She loves you." _

_I didn't respond, because, finally, the doors opened and Lissa walked in, smiling. A few moments later, Roza entered and, as the music started to play, she slowly walked down the aisle. I couldn't help but stare at her. She was so beautiful in her white gown. She looked like an angel. As she made her way towards me, she smiled, radiant with happiness. I tried to remember to breathe as she stopped in front of me. _

_The ceremony went by in a blur as I kept staring at her, unable to comprehend how I'd gotten so lucky to be able to spend the rest of my life with this beautiful and wonderful woman. _

_I was so mesmerized by Roza that I didn't hear the priest call my name. He repeated my name several times before I realized it was my turn to say my vows. I heard some laughs coming from the congregation and even Rose couldn't hold back her smile. After that we exchanged our rings and the priest pronounced us husband and wife. _

"_You may now kiss the bride," he said._

_He didn't have to tell me twice. Smiling brightly, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close as I kissed her. _

"_I love you so much, Roza," I whispered when I pulled away._

_She smiled. "I love you too, comrade."_

When I married her five years ago I thought I couldn't love her possibly more than I already did, but I was wrong. My love for Roza grew stronger every day. As long as I lived, I would cherish her and I would do everything in my power to make her happy. That was the least I could do for her since she had made my life worthwhile. She had given me friendship, love and a beautiful family and it was everything I would ever need in my life. I couldn't have been more happier.

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**That's the end of this story! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Some people wondered if there's going to be a sequel. I'm afraid that's not going to happen. I like how I ended it, and that's one of the reasons why I didn't add Tasha to the epilogues. I didn't want any new drama, I just wanted a beautiful ending and a nice and happy life for Rose and Dimitri. **

**I know you probably hoped for a wedding, but I wanted an epilogue with their kids, so I hope you're happy enough with that little flashback of their wedding. **

**I'd also like to thank all my readers and reviewers. You guys are all amazing! :D**

**I started writing another story. It's called "Unexpected love". I know, the title sucks. I'm sorry, but I'm bad at finding the right title, lol. So, what's the story about?  
Rose broke up with her boyfriend, Jesse, but he isn't ready to give her up yet. He keeps stalking her, and sometimes he even threatens her. Rose can't take it anymore and one night her gorgeous teacher, Dimitri, finds her crying. When he finds out what's wrong, Dimitri is worried and makes it his mission to keep Rose safe. In doing so, they start to grow closer. Being in a romantic relationship is forbidden since he's her teacher, but will that stop them? And will Rose be able to get free of Jesse, who's determined to get her back? It's all human.**

**I know there are probably a lot of teacher/student stories about Rose and Dimitri, but this one will be different. The first chapter will be up in a few days, so if you're interested, check it out. ;)**

**Please leave me one last review and let me know if you liked the ending of 'A night to remember'. :)**

**And thanks again for reading this story! **


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